MMS

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is an evolution of the Short Message Service (SMS), extending the text content with capabilities to transmit multimedia messages to other mobile users. The messages can be any combination of images, animations, audio (voice, music), video and text. MMS supports most common compression techniques, such as JPEG and GIF for pictures, MPEG-4 for video and MP3, WAV and midi for audio.

MMS is a store and forward messaging service. This means that if the recipient phone is not switched on, the message will be stored in the network and sent to the recipient as soon as the phone is switched on. Different protocols can be used as MMS transport mechanism, such as WAP, HTTP or Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The most common approach used nowadays is WAP.

The user will need an MMS-enabled phone. In the network, a Multimedia Messaging Centre (MMC) is needed.