Was asked this question from a Tampa Bay Computer Society member:

“How do you embed a video in an email? Not a simple link to the video, but the actual video with an arrow to start it right there and then in the body of the email.”

Summary: Don’t do it.  Email messages should not impose the will of the author on the reader.  Here are some random thoughts:

• Would have to use hand-crafted HTML and MIME
• Would have to construct the HTML to include an <object> tag
• The object tag would reference a specific media player. If that media player is not available on the machine, errors occur
• There is no way to package the player with the message (would be a massive security hole)
• Would only work on Windows machines
• Would likely not work with web email readers such as Hotmail, Gmail, etcetera
• Is possible, if not probable, that most Windows email clients will block such a message as being potentially unsafe
• Would be rude to the user as their preferred media application might not be invoked

I'm a fan of “inline disposition” which is something I worked on in the late 90's for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Unified Messaging features, but cut from the product before release. In this case however, with a user wanting to create the message, there are too many ways to screw it up.

The salient question is; why is the normal route – attaching a video file - not sufficient?