Needs of multimedia systems evolved due to the evolution of their architecture which is now distributed into heterogeneous contexts. A critical issue lies in the fact that they handle, process, and transmit multimedia data. This data integrates several properties which should be considered since it holds a considerable part of its semantics, for instance the lips synchronization in a video. In this paper, we focus on the definition of a model as a basic abstraction for describing and modeling media in multimedia systems by taking into account their properties. This model will be used in software architecture in order to handle data in efficient way. The provided model is an interesting solution for the integration of media into applications; we propose to consider and to handle them in a uniform way. This model is proposed with synchronization policies to ensure synchronous transport of media. Therefore, we use it in a component model that we develop for the design and deployment of distributed multimedia systems.