There is a lot more to understanding digital objects than most people realize. Each type has certain characteristics and behaviors, which can make manipulating and controlling it complicated. Because of the large size of digital objects, most employ their own compression methods. In some cases, data (information) is lost on compression. The data can be stored as characters, bytes, or instructions. There are a number of standards that exist for each digital object type, and for each type, there are numerous formats available, each with their own characteristics, making them well-suited for their own environment.
Chapter 3, The Multimedia Warehouse covers the concepts of what a multimedia data warehouse is and how a business can load and manage the large number of digital assets that might acquire.