video.js HLS Plugin

A video.js plugin that plays HLS video on platforms that don't support it but have Flash.

Getting Started

Download the plugin. On your web page:

<script src="video.js"></script>
<script src="videojs-hls.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var player = videojs('video');
  player.hls('http://example.com/video.m3u8');
  player.play();
</script>

Documentation

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) has become a de-facto standard for streaming video on mobile devices thanks to its native support on iOS and Android. There are a number of reasons independent of platform to recommend the format, though:

• Supports (client-driven) adaptive bitrate selection
• Delivered over standard HTTP ports
• Simple, text-based manifest format
• No proprietary streaming servers required

Unfortunately, all the major desktop browsers except for Safari are missing HLS support. That leaves web developers in the unfortunate position of having to maintain alternate renditions of the same video and potentially having to forego HTML-based video entirely to provide the best desktop viewing experience.

This plugin attempts to address that situation by providing a polyfill for HLS on browsers that have Flash support. You can deploy a single HLS stream, code against the regular HTML5 video APIs, and create a fast, high-quality video experience across all the big web device categories.

The videojs-hls plugin is still working towards a 1.0 release so it may not fit your requirements today. Specifically, there is no support for:

• Alternate audio and video tracks
• Subtitles
• Dynamic bitrate switching
• Segment codecs other than H.264 with AAC audio
• Live streams
• Internet Explorer 8

Hosting Considerations

Unlike a native HLS implementation, the HLS plugin has to comply with the browser's security policies. That means that all the files that make up the stream must be served from the same domain as the page hosting the video player or from a server that has appropriate CORS headers configured. Easy instructions are available for popular webservers and most CDNs should have no trouble turning CORS on for your account.

Release History

(Nothing yet)