Also called rich embed, oEmbed
An embed is third-party content displayed inside your page — a video, a track, a post — rendered by the source platform rather than copied.
An embed is a live window, not a copy. The content stays hosted by the source, so it updates when the source updates and it disappears when the source removes it. That dependency is the whole trade: you get the real player, the real playback and the real counts, and you accept that someone else controls them.
Embeds are heavy. Each one pulls scripts, fonts and images from another domain, and three embeds can outweigh the rest of the page. Pages that stay fast either load them only when scrolled into view, or replace them with a preview image that becomes a real embed on click.
A middle path is enrichment: fetch the title, artwork and author once, then render them in your own markup. It costs the live player and buys back the speed and the visual consistency.
In practice
Embedding a Spotify album gives visitors the real player with a preview; a screenshot of the album gives them an image they cannot press play on.
Common mistake
Stacking several embeds above the fold. The page reaches interactivity seconds late, and mobile visitors leave before the first player has drawn.
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