If you embed HTML5 videos it is important to upload the video in various formats. This ensures a support by as many browsers as possible. For further information see table.
Video support in browsers
Update: May 2015
Container (Codecs) | Ogg (Theora+Vorbis) | MP4 (H.264+AAC) | WebM |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | 9.0 | 9.0 (***) | |
![]() | 3.5 + | (**) | 4.0 + |
![]() | 3.0 + | 3.0 + | 6.0 + |
![]() | 10.5 + | 24.0 | 10.6 + |
![]() | 3.1 + | ||
![]() | 3.1 + | ||
![]() | 2.3 + | 3.0 + | 2.3 + |
** Firefox supports MP4 in Windows 7+ (21.0), Windows Vista (22.0), Android (17.0), OS X (34.0) and Firefox OS (1.1)
*** The Internet Explorer 9 supports WebM only, if an additional VP8 Plugin has been installed.
After uploading you can embed the video. Click now in the editor on the button Video and the dialog window “video settings” opens. First you can insert a placeholder image which will appear instead of the videos, before the user it has started. The width and height represent the size of the placeholder image. Compression and distortion of the image can happen, if the width-heigh-relation will be changed. The sizes are also important for the video. But the video adjusts his size proportionally. Thus the proportions of the video are maximum big as the proportions of the displayed placeholder image.
HTML5 test video
If you can play the video on the left side and you can hear it, your browser is able to play HTML5 videos. This example video has the format mp4.
If you can’t play this video, the message “Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 videos. Please save the file on the hard disk drive.” appears.
Restrictions without HTML5
Users without HTML5 have problems with the following restrictions:
- No videos with formerly HTML versions available
- To ensure that videos are seen by all users, they have to be provided for download
Alternatives
Flash: the flash technology enables embedding videos in a browser. Flash isn’t supported by Safari on iOS devices, for example iPhone and iPad.
Advantages of HTML5
- Videos can be embedded directly into the browser
- You can upload videos parallel in multiple formats. This ensures a compatibility of all known browsers.
- Videos don’t have to be downloaded, but can be shown directly in the browser