A resource is a piece of static data (such as a bitmap) that is required by the program and is embedded directly into the object file. Because a resource is not actually a separate file in the target environment, using resources reduces the number of physical files required on the target machine and thus can simplify the installation of your programs. Using resources is essential if you want to include bitmap images or sound files in an application that will be dynamically loaded over the World Wide Web. Bitmap files (BMP, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF), sound files (WAV), ActiveX resource files, and runtime configuration files are the only types of resources supported in the current version of ACUCOBOL-GT.