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Scalar 1 User’s Guide

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What Formats Should I Use?

Scalar can work directly with the following media types:

Image Audio Video Document
Supported on recent versions of Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Safari (iOS) DZI, GIF, JPEG, PNG MPEG-3 (MP3) MPEG-4 HTML, Plain Text
Supported only on some of the above browsers
OGG, WAV FLV, M4V, OGG, QuickTime, WebM PDF

If you don't see your media type listed here, you may still be able to use your media in Scalar; services like Critical Commons, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, Vimeo, and YouTube often support a broader set of media formats on upload and then transcode the uploaded media to more compatible formats for delivery. Alternatively, you could convert the media to another format yourself.

If you plan to use one of the formats which aren't supported across all of the target browsers listed above, you can use the tables below to cross-reference the media format with the platform and see which browsers are excluded.

Audio Chrome Firefox Internet Explorer Safari Safari (iOS)
OGA native native n/a n/a n/a
WAV n/a native native native native

Video Chrome Firefox Internet Explorer Safari Safari (iOS)
FLV Flash Flash Flash Flash n/a
M4V native QuickTime native native native
OGG native native n/a n/a n/a
QuickTime n/a QuickTime n/a native native
WebM native native native n/a n/a

Document Chrome Firefox Internet Explorer Safari Safari (iOS)
PDF native native n/a native native

With this information you should be able to make smart decisions about what media formats to use to reach your intended audience, rounding out a complete media strategy for your project.

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