Note: This document is only a reference for available options. To learn about passing options to Video.js, see the setup guide.
Each of these options is also available as a standard <video>
element attribute; so, they can be defined in all three manners outlined in the setup guide. Typically, defaults are not listed as this is left to browser vendors.
Type:
boolean|string
NOTE: At this point, the autoplay attribute and option are NOT a guarantee that your video will autoplay. NOTE2: If there is an attribute on the media element the option will be ignored. NOTE3: You cannot pass a string value in the attribute, you must pass it in the videojs options
Instead of using the autoplay
attribute you should pass an autoplay
option to the videojs
function. The following values
are valid:
- a boolean value of
false
: the same as having no attribute on the video element, won'tautoplay
- a boolean value of
true
: the same as having attribute on the video element, will use browsersautoplay
- a string value of
'muted'
: will mute the video element and then manually callplay()
onloadstart
. This is likely to work. - a string value of
'play'
: will callplay()
onloadstart
, similar to browsersautoplay
- a string value of
'any'
: will callplay()
onloadstart
and if the promise is rejected it will mute the video element then callplay()
.
To pass the option
var player = videojs('my-video', {
autoplay: 'muted'
});
// or
player.autoplay('muted');
- See our blog post: https://blog.videojs.com/autoplay-best-practices-with-video-js/
Type:
boolean
Determines whether or not the player has controls that the user can interact with. Without controls the only way to start the video playing is with the autoplay
attribute or through the Player API.
Type:
string|number
Sets the display height of the video player in pixels.
Type:
boolean
Causes the video to start over as soon as it ends.
Type:
boolean
Will silence any audio by default.
Type:
string
A URL to an image that displays before the video begins playing. This is often a frame of the video or a custom title screen. As soon as the user hits "play" the image will go away.
Type:
string
Suggests to the browser whether or not the video data should begin downloading as soon as the <video>
element is loaded. Supported values are:
Start loading the video immediately (if the browser supports it). Some mobile devices will not preload the video in order to protect their users' bandwidth/data usage. This is why the value is called 'auto' and not something more conclusive like 'true'
.
This tends to be the most common and recommended value as it allows the browser to choose the best behavior.
Load only the meta data of the video, which includes information like the duration and dimensions of the video. Sometimes, the meta data will be loaded by downloading a few frames of video.
Don't preload any data. The browser will wait until the user hits "play" to begin downloading.
Type:
string
The source URL to a video source to embed.
Type:
string|number
Sets the display width of the video player in pixels.
Each option is undefined
by default unless otherwise specified.
Type:
string
Puts the player in fluid mode and the value is used when calculating the dynamic size of the player. The value should represent a ratio - two numbers separated by a colon (e.g. "16:9"
or "4:3"
).
Type:
boolean
Prevents the player from running the autoSetup for media elements with data-setup
attribute.
Note: this must be set globally with
videojs.options.autoSetup = false
in the same tick as videojs source is loaded to take effect.
Type:
Object
When used with the responsive
option, sets breakpoints that will configure how class names are toggled on the player to adjust the UI based on the player's dimensions.
By default, the breakpoints are:
Class Name | Width Range |
---|---|
vjs-layout-tiny |
0-210 |
vjs-layout-x-small |
211-320 |
vjs-layout-small |
321-425 |
vjs-layout-medium |
426-768 |
vjs-layout-large |
769-1440 |
vjs-layout-x-large |
1441-2560 |
vjs-layout-huge |
2561+ |
While the class names cannot be changed, the width ranges can be configured via an object like this:
breakpoints: {
tiny: 300,
xsmall: 400,
small: 500,
medium: 600,
large: 700,
xlarge: 800,
huge: 900
}
- The keys of the
breakpoints
object are derived from the associated class names by removing thevjs-layout-
prefix and any-
characters. - The values of the
breakpoints
object define the max width for a range. - Not all keys need to be defined. You can easily override a single breakpoint by passing an object with one key/value pair! Customized breakpoints will be merged with default breakpoints when the player is created.
When the player's size changes, the merged breakpoints will be inspected in the size order until a matching breakpoint is found.
That breakpoint's associated class name will be added as a class to the player. The previous breakpoint's class will be removed.
See the file sandbox/responsive.html.example
for an example of a responsive player using the default breakpoints.
Type:
Array|Object
This option is inherited from the Component
base class.
Type:
boolean
When true
, the Video.js player will have a fluid size. In other words, it will scale to fit its container.
Also, if the <video>
element has the "vjs-fluid"
, this option is automatically set to true
.
Type:
number
Video.js indicates that the user is interacting with the player by way of the "vjs-user-active"
and "vjs-user-inactive"
classes and the "useractive"
event.
The inactivityTimeout
determines how many milliseconds of inactivity is required before declaring the user inactive. A value of 0
indicates that there is no inactivityTimeout
and the user will never be considered inactive.
Type:
string
, Default: browser default or'en'
A language code matching one of the available languages in the player. This sets the initial language for a player, but it can always be changed.
Learn more about languages in Video.js.
Type:
Object
Customize which languages are available in a player. The keys of this object will be language codes and the values will be objects with English keys and translated values.
Learn more about languages in Video.js
Note: Generally, this option is not needed and it would be better to pass your custom languages to
videojs.addLanguage()
, so they are available in all players!
Type:
boolean
Default:false
Allows the player to use the new live ui that includes:
- A progress bar for seeking within the live window
- A button that can be clicked to seek to the live edge with a circle indicating if you are at the live edge or not.
Without this option the progress bar will be hidden and in its place will be text that indicates LIVE
playback. There will be no progress control
and you will not be able click the text to seek to the live edge. liveui
will default to true
in a future version!
Type:
boolean
Explicitly set a default value for the associated tech option.
Type:
string
Allows overriding the default message that is displayed when Video.js cannot play back a media source.
Type:
Array
An array of numbers strictly greater than 0, where 1 means regular speed
(100%), 0.5 means half-speed (50%), 2 means double-speed (200%), etc.
If specified, Video.js displays a control (of class vjs-playback-rate
)
allowing the user to choose playback speed from among the array of choices.
The choices are presented in the specified order from bottom to top.
For example:
videojs('my-player', {
playbackRates: [0.5, 1, 1.5, 2]
});
Type:
Object
This supports having plugins be initialized automatically with custom options when the player is initialized - rather than requiring you to initialize them manually.
videojs('my-player', {
plugins: {
foo: {bar: true},
boo: {baz: false}
}
});
The above is roughly equivalent to:
var player = videojs('my-player');
player.foo({bar: true});
player.boo({baz: false});
Although, since the plugins
option is an object, the order of initialization is not guaranteed!
See the plugins guide for more information on Video.js plugins.
Type:
boolean
, Default:false
Setting this option to true
will cause the player to customize itself based on responsive breakpoints (see: breakpoints
option).
When this option is false
(the default), responsive breakpoints will be ignored.
Type:
Array
An array of objects that mirror the native <video>
element's capability to have a series of child <source>
elements. This should be an array of objects with the src
and type
properties. For example:
videojs('my-player', {
sources: [{
src: '//path/to/video.mp4',
type: 'video/mp4'
}, {
src: '//path/to/video.webm',
type: 'video/webm'
}]
});
Using <source>
elements will have the same effect:
<video ...>
<source src="//path/to/video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
<source src="//path/to/video.webm" type="video/webm">
</video>
Type:
boolean
Gives the possibility to techs to override the player's poster and integrate into the player's poster life-cycle. This can be useful when multiple techs are used and each has to set their own poster any time a new source is played.
Type:
Array
, Default:['html5']
Defines the order in which Video.js techs are preferred. By default, this means that the Html5
tech is preferred. Other regisetered techs will be added after this tech in the order in which they are registered.
Type:
string
Allows overriding the default URL to vtt.js, which may be loaded asynchronously to polyfill support for WebVTT
.
This option will be used in the "novtt" build of Video.js (i.e. video.novtt.js
). Otherwise, vtt.js is bundled with Video.js.
The Video.js player is a component. Like all components, you can define what children it includes, what order they appear in, and what options are passed to them.
This is meant to be a quick reference; so, for more detailed information on components in Video.js, check out the components guide.
Type:
Array|Object
If an Array
- which is the default - this is used to determine which children (by component name) and in which order they are created on a player (or other component):
// The following code creates a player with ONLY bigPlayButton and
// controlBar child components.
videojs('my-player', {
children: [
'bigPlayButton',
'controlBar'
]
});
The children
options can also be passed as an Object
. In this case, it is used to provide options
for any/all children, including disabling them with false
:
// This player's ONLY child will be the controlBar. Clearly, this is not the
// ideal method for disabling a grandchild!
videojs('my-player', {
children: {
controlBar: {
fullscreenToggle: false
}
}
});
Type:
Object
Components can be given custom options via the lower-camel-case variant of the component name (e.g. controlBar
for ControlBar
). These can be nested in a representation of grandchild relationships. For example, to disable the fullscreen control:
videojs('my-player', {
controlBar: {
fullscreenToggle: false
}
});
Type:
Object
Video.js playback technologies (i.e. "techs") can be given custom options as part of the options passed to the videojs
function. They should be passed under the lower-case variant of the tech name (e.g. "flash"
or "html5"
).
Specifies where the Video.js SWF file is located for the Flash
tech:
videojs('my-player', {
flash: {
swf: '//path/to/videojs.swf'
}
});
However, changing the global defaults is generally more appropriate:
videojs.options.flash.swf = '//path/to/videojs.swf'
Type:
boolean
Only supported by the Html5
tech, this option can be set to true
to force native controls for touch devices.
Type:
boolean
Can be set to false
to disable native audio track support. Most commonly used with videojs-contrib-hls.
Type:
boolean
Can be set to false
to force emulation of text tracks instead of native support. The nativeCaptions
option also exists, but is simply an alias to nativeTextTracks
.
Type:
boolean
Can be set to false
to disable native video track support. Most commonly used with videojs-contrib-hls.