JW Player for Flash Version 5

The JW Player for Flash is the Internet’s most popular and flexible media player. It supports playback of any format the  Adobe Flash Player can handle, as well as HTTP and RTMP streaming and various XML playlist formats. A wide range of configuration options can be set, and an extensive JavaScript API is available. The player's skinning functionality allows you to completely customize its look, and the plugin architecture allows you to easily extend the player with features such as sharing, analytics and ad serving.

The JW Player's source code is freely available and can be built entirely using free and open-source software.

Documentation

General

For general end-user documentation on the using the player, the JW Player support site addresses most of the common questions. Here are a few links to some commonly requested documents:

• All configuration options for customizing the layout, behavior and media loading.
• Supported file formats, XML playlists, and streaming options (RTMP and HTTP)
• Streaming and CDN support.
• A guide to embedding the JW Player on a web page.
• Read the release notes to see what's new in each version of the player.

API

These pages are for JavaScript and Flash/ActionScript developers who want to interact with the JW Player:

• A reference guide for the JavaScript API calls.
• The complete Flash plugin reference.
• A list of all events that Flash plugins may listen for.

Skinning

These pages are for designers that want to create custom skins for the player:

• A skinning guide provides all the information you'll need to start creating your skin.
• A sample PNG skin demonstrates the 5 player's ability to skin the player using PNGs (or jpegs or gifs).
• SWF skins which were created for the JW4 player will still work in JW5.

A couple of high-quality SWF skins (including .fla and fonts) are available as free download in the source browser.

Plugins

• In the addons section of our public site, many plugins can be found for use with the JW Player.

The following pages are for ActionScript developers who wish to extend the player's functionality:

• How to Build Flash Plugins is a guide which demonstrates how to design and write an JW Player plugin in ActionScript.
• The compilation tutorial explains how you can compile the source code of these plugins yourself.
• Download our Plugins SDK. It contains a copy of the testing page and some plugin templates.
• If you submit a plugin to us, it helps to include a plugin XML descriptor file.

Source code

The source code of the JW Player can be obtained through the source code browser (click the zip link at the bottom). A list of tickets for each version can be found here.

The player can be checked out using  Subversion (replace the X below with the minor version you want):

svn co http://developer.longtailvideo.com/svn/tags/mediaplayer-5.X

For the latest 5.x source, check out from is location:

svn co http://developer.longtailvideo.com/svn/trunk/fl5

If you don't have a Subversion client, check out  Tortoise (Windows) or  SC Plugin (Mac OS X).

See the README for instructions on how to compile the JW Player using the free, cross-platform Flex SDK. An overview of the player's internal architecture provides some background on how the player works.

SDKs

We provide a number of SDKs for developers who want to extend the player's functionality in different ways:

• Plugin SDK - Allows ActionScript developers to build plugins for the JW Player. Includes build tools, sample plugins and a testing platform.
  • (download | documentation)
• MediaProvider SDK - Provides tools for building and testing externally loaded Media Providers for JW Player 5.
  • (download | documentation)
• Skinning SDK - Provides skin designers with PDF and Illustrator templates, along with a testing platform for Player 5 Skins.
  • (download | documentation)
• AdComponent SDK - This SDK allows developers to build extensions to LongTail Video's AdSolution. (Please contact us before you begin writing your AdComponent).
  • (download | documentation)