Internet video in the context of "True crime"

A digital media player (also known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integrated into a home cinema configuration, and attached to a television or AV receiver or both.

The term is most synonymous with devices designed primarily for the consumption of content from streaming media services such as internet video, including subscription-based over-the-top content services. These devices usually have a compact form factor (either as a compact set-top box, or a dongle designed to plug into an HDMI port), and contain a 10-foot user interface with support for a remote control and, in some cases, voice commands, as control schemes. Some services may support remote control on digital media players using their respective mobile apps, while Google's Chromecast ecosystem is designed around integration with the mobile apps of content services.

MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG11) under the formal standard ISO/IEC 14496 – Coding of audio-visual objects. Uses of MPEG-4 include compression of audiovisual data for Internet video and CD distribution, voice (telephone, videophone) and broadcast television applications. The MPEG-4 standard was developed by a group led by Touradj Ebrahimi (later the JPEG president) and Fernando Pereira.

Short-form content, also known as short-form video, is a short video, or short section of a video — often made from various sources such as movies (both professional and amateur), shows, or entertainment videos — that is uploaded to the Internet via video sharing platforms such as YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, Vine, and Facebook Reels. They are popular among young people, especially those of Generation Z and Alpha, building a part of Internet culture.

Short-form content gained some popularity in the 2010s before becoming more popular in the 2020s, especially with the creation of several short-form media platforms. Most short-form content, and short-form videos, today are commonly found as video clips uploaded in the vertical format and are up to a few minutes long (e.g. three minutes maximum for YouTube Shorts content as of 2026). Such content can contain snippets of videos taken out of context and made as memes, and can also be used to attract the public to the uploader's other accounts or their long-form content.