`<EMBED ...>`

Usage Recommendation
use it, but don't rely on it

SRC: URL of resource to be embedded
WIDTH: width of area in which to show resource
HEIGHT: height of area in which to show resource
ALIGN: how text should flow around the picture
NAME: name of the embedded object
PLUGINSPAGE: where to get the plugin software
PLUGINURL: where to get the JAR archive for automatic installation
HIDDEN: if the object is visible or not
HREF: make this object a link
TARGET: frame to link to

AUTOSTART: if the sound/movie should start automatically
LOOP: how many times to play the sound/movie
PLAYCOUNT: how many times to play the sound/movie
VOLUME: how loud to play the sound
CONTROLS: which sound control to display
CONTROLLER: if controls should be displayed
MASTERSOUND: indicates the object in a sound group with the sound to use
STARTTIME: how far into the sound to start and stop
ENDTIME: when to finish playing

<EMBED ...> puts a browser plugin in the page. A plugin is a special program located on the client computer (i.e. not on your web server) that handles its own special type of data file. The most common plugins are for sounds and movies. The <EMBED ...> tag gives the location of a data file that the plugin should handle.

In its simplest use, <EMBED ...> uses the SRC attribute to indicate the location of the plugin data file, and usually also gives a WIDTH and HEIGHT of the plugin area. For example, the following code embeds a MIDI file of the 1812 Overture in the page:

this code produces this

<EMBED SRC="../graphics/sounds/1812over.mid" HEIGHT=60 WIDTH=144>

<EMBED ...> is not a part of the HTML 4 or xHTML 1 specifications, but it is still widely supported by modern browsers. Unlike other tags, the attributes used by <EMBED ...> depend on the type of plugin being used (this odd free-attribute concept is why <EMBED ...> has been rejected by the HTML standards makers).

The only required attribute for <EMBED ...> is SRC, so let's begin there.