Microsoft, Industry Leaders Complete and Deliver ASF Specification

Advanced Streaming Format (ASF), a file format designed to specify and standardize a common definition for streaming media

REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 30, 1997 - Microsoft Corp. today announced the public availability of the completed specification for the Advanced Streaming Format (ASF), a file format designed to specify and standardize a common definition for streaming media - synchronized audio, video and multimedia - used on the Internet. The completed ASF specification was created in an open process by Microsoft, Progressive Networks Inc., Intel Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Vivo Software Inc. and reflects many iterations based on feedback and comments from over 100 companies.

What: Final ASF 2.0 specification

Where: http://www.microsoft.com/asf/, free of charge (connect-time charges may apply)

When: Sept. 30, 1997

Background

ASF is an open file format for storing streaming multimedia content. It is designed to become a key streaming multimedia file format standard for intranets and the Internet, replacing separate data types such as WAV and AVI. ASF provides for integration of different media types, optimization for delivery over lossy networks, and support for multiple bandwidths within a single media file. ASF supports the synchronization of the different media types on a common time line, enabling images, HTML pages or scripted events to be synchronized with an audio track. Media servers, players and authoring tools supporting ASF are expected to start to be available early next year.

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