After you have successfully uploaded a media file to JoomMedia, it will be displayed in JoomMedia. Without any further processing, JoomMedia will simply show the original file.
If the original file will not be in a format which is compatible for display in your Joomla website. In this case, JoomMedia will simply try use whatever plugin is available. For example, if you upload a MOV video file, then JoomMedia will try to load the video in the Apple Quick Time plugin.
To avoid this situation, JoomMedia will attempt to process the original file and produce other copies of the file which can be displayed in an efficient and consistent way on your Joomla website.
What does processing mean?
- JoomMedia will create new media files from the original, so that the media can be easily displayed over the internet. This commonly involves compressing the original media in some way.
- JoomMedia will generate a suitable thumbnail from the original media item to display in media lists.
When is a media file not processed ?
- When you have imported it from an remote media source such as Youtube.com.
- When you have uploaded it to a platform hosting service like dacast.com or Kaltura.com.
If you don't upload media files to your own server, then you don't need to consider media processing.
What is required to process media files?
- You need FFMPEG and ImageMagick to be installed on your server.
What happens if the server requirements are not installed?
- JoomMedia will not be able to process your uploads, and it will simply attempt to display the original media item using a suitable plugin. Additionally, no thumbnail images will be generated for your media.
What are the alternatives to processing media on my server?
If you don't have the server requirements installed on your server, there are two good alterntives which you can use to still run a professional media gallery.
- You can firstly upload your media files to a remote service like Youtube, and them import those media items to JoomMedia.
- You can use a Platform Hosting Service like dacast.com or Kaltura.com.