What is 'multimedia' ? What does the term most often refer to on the Web?

As the term implies, "Multimedia" literally involves using more than one type of media (usually text, graphics, animation and sound) to produce an object. Traditional "static" Web pages, therefore, could be considered multimedia, since they usually incorporate both text and graphics. However, the term multimedia is most often used in Web parlance to refer to the inclusion of audio, video and/or animation in a Web page. Recently, the advents of new Web multimedia standards such as Shockwave and VRML have expanded the meaning of the term even further.

Multimedia uses in different Verticals :

Education
In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopedia and almanacs.

Engineering
Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training.

Industry
In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.