Have seen this before as a .mpeg... Not sure why first .wmv tried to take over and now we are lumbered with .flv files. The old system worked well and was'nt broken.
I agree mate. The reason is bandwidth. Flv files are much smaller in size, so load quicker and offer a reasonable alternative and cost effective method of doing the same thing.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox, go and get a add on from Mozilla site called download helper for Firefox. Pretty much self-explanatory after that. Will need to have a FLV file player, because the file will save as a ****.flv file. As for Internet Explorer - no help - don't use it.
Originally, FLV were used in Macromedia / Adobe Flash and the letters stand for FLash Video. Also, the format got popularity, because FLV files allows you to "broadcast" them as kind of "streaming video". As long you have a video player on your site, the users will see them as an embedded link as the pictures are. If you download them (online on the page or to your flv player on your computer), you'll the bandwidth and download time difference easily since a 100mb video will be less than 10 mb in the flv format.