The Java Media Framework and MovieSafe - an FAQ

What is the JMF?

The JMF is a standard extension to Java that allows Java programs and applets to play sound and video. It is completely free to download from Sun at http://java.sun.com/products/jmf (3.5 MBytes). MovieSafe applets rely on the JMF to protect a movie.

Do I need to install it to create applets?

Yes. To create applets it is necessary to install the JMF, it is also necessary for previewing movies in MovieSafe.

Do viewers of the applets need to install it?

It depends. MovieSafe provides the option to include the JMF in the applet so the target browser doesn't need the plugin. However this will increase download time and not all formats are supported, most notably MPEG. If you expect the user to have the JMF installed then they should download the "performance" version for their platform eg.windows. However the performance pack isn't available for MAC so including the JMF in the applet is perhaps the best option since the applet will run on any Java 1.1 compliant browser on any platform.

It's the authors opinion that the best use of MovieSafe is to display QuickTime movies with the JMF included with the applet. This is the "cleanest" option which involves minimal action by the target viewer.

What's the download overhead

Without the JMF in the applet the movie will be a lot smaller than the original because the JAR file created is infact a zip file in disguise. If you include the JMF player in the applet then you should expect a download overhead on top of the original size of around 300K for movies up to 750K which will drop to 250K and below for movies over one megabyte.

How do I know if MovieSafe can play a movie

Not all codecs are implemented in the JMF. Some codecs recently used in Quicktime are absent. To find out if a movie can be played the best way is to try it out.