Brett Lindenberg
Engaging multimedia puts the right image, video clip, sound, or document in front of the viewer at the moment the video raises the question it answers. In an interactive video you add these as layers on the timeline instead of editing them into the footage: images over the frame, short clips that pause the main video and return to the same spot, audio, downloadable files, and web pages that open over the player. Research on multimedia learning supports pairing words with pictures and warns against extras that do not serve the point. The main decision is which media every viewer must see and which can wait behind a click.
What makes multimedia engaging
Richard Mayer's research tests how to combine words, pictures, and video so that people understand and remember. Mayer's 2024 review in Educational Psychology Review lists 15 design principles, each with an effect size and a count of tests, taken from the 2021 book Multimedia Learning. Five of them apply when you add media to a video.
| Principle | Finding | Effect size (tests) | What to do in the video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multimedia | People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone | 1.35 (13) | Add a diagram, chart, or product image where the narration describes something visual |
| Temporal contiguity | People learn better when matching words and pictures appear at the same time | 1.31 (8) | Show the image during the sentence that describes it |
| Coherence | People learn better when extraneous material is left out | 0.86 (19) | Cut decorative images, music, and side stories that do not serve the point |
| Signaling | People learn better when cues highlight how the key material is organized | 0.69 (16) | Use arrows, highlights, and chapter titles to point at what matters |
| Segmenting | People learn better from segments they pace themselves than from one continuous lesson | 0.67 (7) | Keep the main path short and let viewers open extra detail when they want it |
The clearest warning concerns background music. In two experiments, Moreno and Mayer (2000) added background music, sound effects, or both to a narrated animation. College students who got music and sounds did worse on retention and transfer tests than students who got neither. Mayer's theory explains how people learn academic material, so treat these findings as strong guidance for training and education videos and as a sensible default for marketing videos. Our guide to multimedia learning principles covers all 15 principles and their limits, and visual learning strategies covers how to design the visuals themselves.
Which media to add, and when
Give each piece of media one job. This table lists the media you can add in Mindstamp, checked against our feature pages and help center in October 2026.
| Media | Use it for | How it plays | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image overlay | Specs, charts, logos, and badges the footage lacks | Shows at the time you set. Can be clickable to open a link, jump, or start a branch. | PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP. The caption is the text alternative for screen readers. |
| Full-size image | Diagrams, wiring plans, and tables too small to read in the player | Opens over the video from a button, hotspot, or answer | The video pauses while the image is open and resumes when the viewer closes it. |
| Video clip | Expert detail, a testimonial, a correction, or an explanation after a wrong answer | The main video pauses, the clip plays, and the main video resumes where it stopped | Upload MP4, MOV, or WebM, or record up to 2 minutes in Mindstamp. |
| Audio clip | A pronunciation, a short narration, or a sound sample | The video pauses while the audio plays, then resumes | MP3, WAV, OGG, or FLAC. Repeat the content in text for viewers who cannot hear it. |
| Background soundtrack | Brand tone in a marketing video | Plays under the video without pausing it | Leave it out of lessons (coherence principle). |
| Card | A product, or a short explanation with an image and a next step | Opens on click with the Show Card action. Holds text, an image, and up to two actions. | Cards resize for desktop and mobile on their own. |
| File download | PDFs, slides, worksheets, and spec sheets | The Download File click action starts the download | Available on the Pro plan and higher. |
| Web page | Pricing, checkout, documentation, or a booking page | Open Link opens a new tab. Open Link Modal opens the page in a window over the video, which pauses until the viewer closes it. | The modal shows the page in a frame, so the page must allow framing. |
| HTML embed | Forms, maps, calendars, and dashboards you already use | An iframe inside a text interaction, shown at a set time or after a click | The source site must allow framing. Scripts are removed, so script-based embeds do not run. |
Two rules help with placement. Put media on the main path only when every viewer needs it, and make everything else optional behind a button or hotspot. When the frame is too small for the detail, open it full size instead of shrinking it into an overlay. For more on layering text, logos, and prices over footage, see our guide to video overlays.
How to add an image to a video
These steps follow our help article on clickable images:
- Open Interactions and move the playhead to where the image should appear.
- Choose Image in the interaction bar.
- Upload a file, pick one from your asset library, or paste an image URL.
- Position and resize the image on the video.
- Add a caption under Content. Mindstamp uses it as the text alternative for screen readers, and you can also show it on the video.
- Set the show and hide times and the click action. The default action, Continue, records the click and keeps the video playing.
- Save, then test in Preview and on a phone.
Keep images off faces, captions, on-screen demonstrations, and the player controls. A transparent PNG still has a rectangular click area, so test it near the edges of the frame. When viewers need words to know what a click does, use a button instead; our post on image buttons shows when a picture works as the label. After a click, you can leave the image as it is, hide it, or disable it.
How to add a video clip or audio clip
- Move the playhead to where the clip should play.
- In the interaction bar, choose More, then Video Clip or Audio Clip.
- Pick a clip from your assets, upload a file, or record up to 2 minutes with your camera or microphone.
- For a video clip, set its position and size, then preview it.
A clip placed on the timeline plays for every viewer. To make it optional, add a button, hotspot, or image with the Play Video Clip or Play Audio Clip action instead, and label it with what the viewer gets, such as "Hear the engineer explain the valve (40 sec)". To let viewers leave a clip early, turn on Allow skipping of video & audio clips in Playback Settings. Our multimedia feature page shows clips recorded and added in the editor.
How to add documents, web pages, and embeds
- For a file, set a button's click action to Download File. Our list of document downloads to include in an interactive video has ideas, from checklists to spec sheets.
- For a web page, use Open Link when the viewer should finish the task there, such as checkout. Use Open Link Modal when the viewer should come back to the video, such as a pricing table.
- For a form, map, or scheduler, open a text interaction, choose Edit as HTML, and paste the tool's iframe code. Our help article on HTML in interactions lists the tags Mindstamp keeps and the ones it removes. To put a booking calendar in the player, see calendar embedding.
- For a product or a short explanation with an image, use the Show Card action, added in August 2026.
To point at a detail in the footage, add a drawing: shapes, arrows, freehand marks, or text timed to the second. Since April 2026, buttons, hotspots, text, and images can also carry a hover tooltip that tells viewers what a click will open.
Design multimedia for phones and every viewer
- Write a caption for every image. It is the text alternative screen readers announce.
- Repeat anything an audio clip says in on-screen text or the transcript.
- Turn on closed captions for the main video and for clips with speech.
- Use a full-size image for any diagram a viewer must read. Text that is legible on a laptop can be unreadable in a phone player.
- Build HTML embeds mobile-first. The modal scales with the player, so avoid fixed pixel widths that overflow small screens.
- Publish, then check the video on a real phone, as our guide to checking a video on mobile describes.
How to tell whether your multimedia works
Mindstamp reporting records each click and answer against the viewer, with the interaction and the time it happened. The Views report gives each session's watched percentage, which counts the unique seconds a viewer played divided by the video length.
- If few viewers open an optional clip or file, check its label and timing before you cut it.
- If most viewers open the same clip, its content may belong on the main path.
- Clicks are reported per interaction, so you can test two placements of the same link and compare them.
Preview sessions in the editor are not recorded as views. To test the report, open the share link in a private browser window.
Common questions
What counts as multimedia in a video?
Any media that adds to the main recording: images, charts, short video clips, audio, documents, and web content such as forms or maps. In an interactive video, these sit on the timeline as separate layers, so you can change or remove them without editing the video file.
Can I add images and video clips without re-editing my video?
Yes. Mindstamp adds images, clips, and other interactions on top of the video you already have, with no re-encoding. You can upload a video or connect one from a host such as Vimeo or Wistia. A YouTube link works for testing only, so upload the file before you publish.
Does the main video lose its place when a clip plays?
No. The main video pauses when a video or audio clip starts and resumes from the same point when the clip ends.
Which image formats can I use?
PNG, JPEG, GIF, and WebP. Use GIF or WebP for a short animation, and keep it small so it loads quickly on phones.
Should I add background music?
Leave music out of training and education videos. In the Moreno and Mayer experiments, background music and sounds lowered test scores. In a marketing video, music can set the tone; keep it quiet under speech and test whether viewers keep watching.
Pick one video you already have and find the moment that draws the most questions from viewers or your support team. Add one image or one optional clip there, publish it, and check the click counts after a week. For complete projects that combine these media, see 5 creative uses of interactive video and our interactive video examples.
