From the Ohio Link etd frequently asked questions:

“ What file formats can I submit to the ETD Center?

     We accept multiple formats and multiple files per paper, such as a main PDF file with supplementary data files and video clips. The list of acceptable formats is an institutional decision. As an overall rule, OhioLINK recommends file formats that are platform-independent, vendor-independent, non-proprietary, stable, widely supported. The same criteria apply to audio and video codecs and other embedded software.

Preferred formats include:

• For formatted documents: Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF files should have all fonts embedded and may not disable printing or text access. PDF files being uploaded to Proquest/UMI must be unlocked (no security options selected).
• For video: video requires choices about both compression/decompression (codec) software used, and the file format used. We currently recommend the H.264 codec in AVI, MP4, or Matroska file formats; the Xvid codec in AVI or Matroska formats; or the Theora codec in the Ogg file format.
• For high-resolution images: Portable Network Graphics format (PNG), TIFF. for lower-resolution images: PNG, JPEG
• For spreadsheets or data files: Comma-separated values or other delimited text

OhioLINK strongly discourages the use of HTML unless authors take considerable care in ensuring that their markup conforms to published standards and that their use of links and inline images can stand alone in the ETD Center.

For reasons of long-term accessibility and preservation, OhioLINK strongly discourages documents in proprietary file formats such as Microsoft Word or Excel.

OhioLINK will not accept executable binary files if alternatives are available.”

Adobe Acrobat X Pro step-by-step guide to inserting rich media into PDF documents