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Multimedia Messaging Service
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<p>Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include <a href="/facts/Multimedia/PtJteq27">multimedia</a> content to and from a <a href="/facts/Mobile_phone/H3EcqD9h">mobile phone</a> over a <a href="/facts/Cellular_network/8zA0jQJ9">cellular network</a>. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia message. The MMS standard extends the core <a href="/facts/SMS/kacRfW0X">SMS</a> (Short Message Service) capability, allowing the exchange of text messages greater than 160 characters in length. Unlike text-only SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media, including up to forty seconds of video, one image, a <a href="/facts/Slide_show/rB9Jw2w8">slideshow</a> of multiple images, or audio. </p><p>Media companies have utilized MMS on a commercial basis as a method of delivering news and entertainment content, and retailers have deployed it as a tool for delivering scannable coupon codes, product images, videos, and other information. On (mainly) older devices, messages that start off with text, as SMS, are converted to and sent as an MMS when an <a href="/facts/Emoji/Qkp7gwBH">emoji</a> is added. </p><p>The commercial introduction of MMS started in March 2002, although picture messaging had already been established in Japan. It was built using the technology of SMS as a captive technology which enabled service providers to "collect a fee every time anyone snaps a photo." MMS was designed to be able to work on the then-new <a href="/facts/GPRS/c4SJD7ov">GPRS</a> and <a href="/facts/3G/K1noBd8n">3G</a> networks and could be implemented through either a <a href="/facts/Wireless_Application_Protocol/UxhCWfnv">WAP</a>-based or <a href="/facts/Internet_Protocol/Qq6VeEal">IP</a>-based gateway. The <a href="/facts/3GPP/TBrQYKFF">3GPP</a> and WAP Forum groups fostered the development of the MMS standard, which was then continued by the <a href="/facts/Open_Mobile_Alliance/5sQQMsvo">Open Mobile Alliance</a> (OMA). </p>