HTML 5 is the latest version of the HTML markup language. It introduces several new elements and features to improve the functionality of web pages, including the <canvas> element for drawing graphics, the <video> and <audio> elements for embedding video and audio, and local storage for storing data on the user's device. The development of HTML 5 was started by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group in 2004 to address limitations of prior versions and support emerging web standards and multimedia. It is still being worked on jointly by WHATWG and the W3C.