Understanding .asf files

An .asf file is a streaming multimedia file that is scaled to fit within a network's available bandwidth.

You can create .asf files from a variety of sources, including:

• Video. A .mov or .avi file.
• Images. Any image in the .bmp, .dib, .rle, .jpg, or .gif format.
• Audio. Any .wav or .mp3 files that use any ACM codec; that is, any audio file you can play on your computer (Microsoft Windows operating systems contain several ACM codecs).
• Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Depending on the version of PowerPoint that you are using, you can either save your PowerPoint presentation as an .asf file, or save your PowerPoint slides as .jpg images and then use Windows Media Author to incorporate these images into an .asf file.
• Live audio and video. Using Windows Media Encoder, you can turn any live event that can be captured with a microphone or a video camera into an .asf file.