Digital assets in online publishing include media (images, video, and interactive content) that goes into the production of articles approved for publication. Publishing directly to the web offers the level of flexibility afforded by the text editing system and the media capabilities of the platform being used. Most scholarly publications have produced print volumes (with text and images) but in recent decades, have increasingly shifted towards electronic file formats such as PDF (Portable Document Format, featuring just text and images). Authors have been submitting their manuscript (typed or electronic text) and supplemental material (high-quality photographs, figures, and other illustrations) together for the editorial team to process, and this part has not changed.
Unless the content goes on a blog, which still requires clear but low-resolution (i.e, 72 ppi) images (JPEG or PNG), videos (MP4), audio (MP3), or other interactive media (such as SWF/Flash), authors will be asked for specific file types. For images, it is not uncommon for journals to require TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files at the resolution of 600 ppi (pixel per inch), which will appear in a comparable quality in the copyedited version of the article approved for publication. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission to use images from existing publications and submit all necessary documentation (legal forms, correspondence, etc.) along with the manuscript. Author's refusing to do that for a formal publication will have their manuscript rejected. Bloggers and others posting directly publishing on the Web are running the risk of legal action if posting contents without permission, after all, that act constitutes theft.