What is video.js?
Video.js is a web video player built from the ground up for an HTML5 world. It supports HTML5 video and modern streaming formats, as well as YouTube, Vimeo, and even Flash (through plugins). It provides a consistent look and feel across different browsers and devices.
What are video.js's main functionalities?
Basic Video Player
This code sets up a basic video player using Video.js. It includes the necessary CSS and JavaScript files from a CDN and initializes a video element with controls.
<html>
<head>
<link href="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video-js.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
<body>
<video id="my-video" class="video-js" controls preload="auto" width="640" height="264" data-setup='{}'>
<source src="MY_VIDEO.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
<p class="vjs-no-js">
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
<a href="https://videojs.com/html5-video-support/" target="_blank">supports HTML5 video</a>
</p>
</video>
<script src="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Customizing the Player
This example demonstrates how to customize the player by applying a theme. The 'vjs-theme-city' class is added to the video element to change its appearance.
<html>
<head>
<link href="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video-js.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
<body>
<video id="my-video" class="video-js vjs-theme-city" controls preload="auto" width="640" height="264" data-setup='{}'>
<source src="MY_VIDEO.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
<p class="vjs-no-js">
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
<a href="https://videojs.com/html5-video-support/" target="_blank">supports HTML5 video</a>
</p>
</video>
<script src="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Plugins and Extensions
This example shows how to use the videojs-contrib-ads plugin to add advertisements to your video. The plugin is included via a CDN, and the player is configured to show a pre-roll ad.
<html>
<head>
<link href="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video-js.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
<body>
<video id="my-video" class="video-js" controls preload="auto" width="640" height="264" data-setup='{}'>
<source src="MY_VIDEO.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
<p class="vjs-no-js">
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
<a href="https://videojs.com/html5-video-support/" target="_blank">supports HTML5 video</a>
</p>
</video>
<script src="https://vjs.zencdn.net/7.11.4/video.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/videojs-contrib-ads@6.6.4/dist/videojs.ads.min.js"></script>
<script>
var player = videojs('my-video');
player.ads();
player.on('readyforpreroll', function() {
player.ads.startLinearAdMode();
player.src('AD_VIDEO.mp4');
player.one('adended', function() {
player.ads.endLinearAdMode();
});
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
Other packages similar to video.js
plyr
Plyr is a simple, accessible, and customizable HTML5 media player. It supports modern streaming formats and provides a clean and minimalistic design. Compared to Video.js, Plyr is more lightweight and easier to customize but may lack some advanced features and plugin support.
mediaelement
MediaElement.js is a JavaScript library that provides a consistent HTML5 video and audio player across all browsers. It supports a wide range of media formats and offers a variety of plugins. MediaElement.js is similar to Video.js in terms of functionality but focuses more on providing a unified experience across different media types.
clappr
Clappr is an extensible media player for the web. It supports a wide range of media formats and streaming protocols. Clappr is highly customizable and offers a plugin architecture similar to Video.js. However, it is more focused on providing a flexible and modular framework for building custom media players.
Video.js is a web video player built from the ground up for an HTML5 world. It supports HTML5 and Flash video, as well as YouTube and Vimeo (through plugins). It supports video playback on desktops and mobile devices. This project was started mid 2010, and the player is now used on over 50,000 100,000 websites.
Quick start
Thanks to the awesome folks over at Fastly, there's a free, CDN hosted version of Video.js that anyone can use. Simply add these includes to your document's
<head>
:
<link href="http://vjs.zencdn.net/4.10/video-js.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="http://vjs.zencdn.net/4.10/video.js"></script>
Then, whenever you want to use Video.js you can simply use the <video>
element as your normally would, but with an additional data-setup
attribute containing any Video.js options. These options
can include any Video.js option plus potential plugin options, just make sure they're valid JSON!
<video id="really-cool-video" class="video-js vjs-default-skin" controls
preload="auto" width="640" height="264" poster="really-cool-video-poster.jpg"
data-setup='{}'>
<source src="really-cool-video.mp4" type='video/mp4'>
<source src="really-cool-video.webm" type='video/webm'>
<p class="vjs-no-js">
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser
that <a href="http://videojs.com/html5-video-support/" target="_blank">supports HTML5 video</a>
</p>
</video>
If you don't want to use auto-setup, you can leave off the data-setup
attribute and initialize a video element manually.
var player = videojs('really-cool-video', { }, function() {
console.log('Good to go!');
this.play();
this.on('ended', function() {
console.log('awww...over so soon?');
});
});
If you're ready to dive in, the documentation is the first place to go for more information. Generally the
player API docs are the most pertinent.
Contributing
Video.js is a free and open source library, and we appreciate any help you're willing to give. Check out the contributing guide.
Building your own Video.js from source
To build your own custom version read the section on contributing code and "Building your own copy" in the contributing guide.
License
Video.js is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. View the license file
Copyright 2014 Brightcove, Inc.