Asset Delivery, Integrations, and Customization
Delivery centers on renditions and the content delivery model. In standard Assets you reference a specific rendition URL (e.g., the web rendition) served through Sling or a dispatcher/CDN. With Dynamic Media, you reference a single base image and apply Image Serving modifiers (?wid=, ?hei=, ?fmt=, ?qlt=) to get responsive, on-demand renditions - the master is never re-encoded per size. Know Smart Imaging (auto format/quality based on browser) and that Dynamic Media URLs are signed when secure delivery is enabled.
Integrations: Assets connects to Adobe Creative Cloud (via the desktop app / Asset Link), to Sites via the Core Components Image component (which can resolve asset metadata and smart crops), and to external systems via the /api/assets REST endpoint or the Asset Compute Service for custom processing. The Content Fragments + Assets relationship (referenced images in fragments) is a common integration question.
Customization: developers extend Assets with custom metadata schemas, custom workflows/Asset Compute workers, custom OSGi services, and Sling Models/HTL components that expose asset data. Traps: (1) assuming you can change the original binary through a rendition - you cannot; (2) confusing Dynamic Media Image Serving modifiers with standard rendition URLs; (3) forgetting that dispatcher caching must be invalidated when assets change; (4) thinking the Core Image component always uses Dynamic Media - it does only when configured.
Worked rule: for responsive web delivery of one master image, use Dynamic Media with width/format modifiers and enable Smart Imaging; do not pre-generate dozens of static renditions.