---
title: HTML5 Video
---
## HTML5 Video


Before HTML5, in order to have a video play in a webpage, you would need to use a plugin, like Adobe Flash Player. With the introduction of HTML5, you can now place it directly into the page itself.
This now makes it possible to have videos playign in pages designed to be viewed on mobile devices, as plugins like Adobe Flash Player do not work on mobile.
The HTML <video> tag is used to embed video in web documents. It may contain one or more video sources, represented using the src attribute or the [source](<source>) element.
  
  
 To embed a video file into a web page, just add this code snippet and change the src of the audio file.
 
 ```html
 <video controls>
    <source src="tutorial.ogg" type="video /ogg">
    <source src="tutorial.mp4" type="video /mpeg">
  Your browser does not support the video element. Kindly,update it to latest version.
  </video >
```

The controls attribute includes video controls, similar to play, pause, and volume.

This feature is supported by all modern/updated browsers. However, not all support the same video file format. My recommendation for a wide range of compatibility is MP4, as it is the most widely accepted format. There are also two other formats (WebM and Ogg) that are supported in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.

The <source> element enables you to indicate alternative video files which the browser may choose from. The browser will utilize the first recognized format.
In HTML5, there are 3 supported video formats: MP4, WebM, and Ogg.

The text between the <video> and </video> tags will only be displayed in browsers that do not support the <video> element.
Since this is html5, some browsers do not support it. You can check the support at https://caniuse.com/#search=audio.


There are several different elements of the video tag, many of these explanations are based on Mozilla's web docs (linked below). There are even more if you click the link at the bottom. 

#### autoplay

"autoplay" can be set to either true or false. You set it to true by adding it into the tag, if it is not present in the tag it is set to false. If set to true, the video will begin playing as soon as enough of the video has buffered for it to be able to play. Many people find autoplaying videos as disruptive or annoying. So use this feature sparingly. Also note, that some mobile browsers, such as Safari for iOS, ignore this attribute.

```html
    <video autoplay>
      <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
    </video>
```

#### poster

The "poster" attribute is the image that shows on the video until the user clicks to play it.

```html
    <video poster="poster.png">
      <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
    </video>
```

#### controls

The "controls" attribute can be set to true or false and will handle whether controls such as the play/pause button or volume slider appear. You set it to true by adding it into the tag, if it is not present in the tag it is set to false. 

```html
    <video controls>
      <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
    </video>
```

There are many more attributes that can be added that are optional to customize the videoplayer in the page. To learn more, click on the links below.

## More Information:

- <a href="https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_video.asp">W3Schools - HTML5 Video</a> 
- <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/video">Mozilla web docs - Video</a>
- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video">Wikipedia - HTML5 Video</a> 
- <a href="https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/video/basics/">HTML5 Rocks - HTML5 Video</a>
- [Can I use video?](https://caniuse.com/#search=video)
- [How to use HTML5 to play video files on your webpage](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer/samples/hh924821(v=vs.85))