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Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

By Katie Terrell Hanna

What is Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)?

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a communications technology developed by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) to enable the transmission of multimedia content via text message.

An extension to the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol, MMS defines a way to send and receive, almost instantaneously, wireless messages that include images, audio, and video clips in addition to text.

A common application of MMS messaging is picture messaging, which is the use of phone cameras to take photos for immediate delivery to a mobile recipient. Other possibilities include animations and graphic presentations of stock quotes, sports news and weather reports.

How MMS works

The process of sending and receiving an MMS message in a typical phone-to-phone MMS transaction works this way:

  1. The sending phone triggers a data connection that provides TCP/IP network connectivity, typically over GPRS (General Packet Radio Service).
  2. The sending phone performs an HTTP POST to a Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) of the MMS message encoding in the MMS Encapsulation Protocol as defined by the Open Mobile Alliance. The encoded MMS message includes all of the content of the MMS message, along with header information that includes a list of intended recipients for the message. (The HTTP POST will be routed through a proxy server in most environments. Some devices will use WP-HTTP (Wireless Profiled HTTP) and TCP through a WAP 2.0 proxy server, while other devices will use the Wireless Session Protocol through a conventional Wireless Application Protocol [WAP] proxy server/gateway.)
  3. The MMSC receives the submitted MMS message and validates the sender of the message.
  4. The MMSC stores the content of the MMS message, making it available as a URL link that's dynamically generated.
  5. The MMSC generates an MMS notification message, which is sent via WAP Push over SMS to the recipient(s) of the message. This MMS notification message contains a URL pointer to the dynamically generated MMS content.
  6. The recipient receives the MMS notification message and initiates a data connection that provides TCP/IP network connectivity (usually over GPRS).
  7. The recipient phone performs an HTTP (or Wireless Session Protocol) GET to retrieve the MMS message content URL from the MMSC.

Best practices for MMS

To optimize MMS messages for the best user experience, use the following best practices:

Differences between MMS and SMS

Although MMS and SMS are built using the same underlying technology, there are some key differences between the two, including the following:

Business uses of MMS

Retailers can use MMS in several ways, including the following:

Other business uses of MMS include the following:

05 Jan 2023

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