Silverlight™ 2 Bible

Chapter 5. Encoding Audio, Video, and Images for Silverlight Applications

Providing audio and video elements is a great way to add a robust customer experience to your Web site. We already discussed the MediaElement in Chapter 2 that gives you the ability to implement audio and video in Silverlight applications.

Microsoft created Expression Encoder to help you create rich media files with metadata that enables you to implement a media-rich Silverlight application. Expression Encoder also provides you with the ability to determine the output size, quality, and other encoding settings that enable you to deliver the best media file for your needs.

Using Expression Encoder, you can import a wide variety of video and audio files that can then be encoded into a format that Silverlight can consume with the proper settings and metadata for the Silverlight application.

Image files are another important part of media-rich Internet applications. One of the biggest advancements in Internet media is the concept of multiscale images. The Microsoft Deep Zoom Composer product provides an easy-to-use interface to encode image files into multiscale images.

The following sections take you through the process of using Expression Encoder and Deep Zoom Composer to deliver encoded media files that can be consumed by Silverlight applications.

Configuring Video in a Job

The first step in building an encoded video project in Expression Encoder is to configure the video as it should appear in the Silverlight application. ...