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1<!doctype html>
2<html>
3<head>
4<title>Media Format Support</title>
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20</head><body>
21
22<h1>Media Format Support</h1>
23
24<p>This guide lists all media formats JW Player officially supports.</p>
25
26<h2>Introduction</h2>
27
28<p>JW Player supports 9 distinct media formats: 3 video file types (<em>MP4</em>, <em>WebM</em>, <em>FLV</em>), 3 audio file types (<em>AAC</em>, <em>MP3</em>, <em>Vorbis</em>), 2 streaming protocols (<em>HLS</em>, <em>RTMP</em>) and <em>YouTube</em> (through their Chromeless Player API). Under certain circumstances, JW Player may play additional formats (like <em>Ogg</em> videos or <em>ShoutCast</em> streams), but only these 9 are cross-browser tested and officially supported.</p>
29
30<p>JW Player does not decode audio or video itself, but instead relies upon two underlying browser technologies: the HTML5 &lt;video&gt; element and the Adobe Flash plugin. Whether a format can play in HTML5 and/or Flash varies by browser. Therefore, we list below in which browsers each format is supported. See <a href="browsers.html">Supported Browsers &amp; Devices</a> for more details.</p>
31
32<p>JW Player tries to recognize a file format by its extension (e.g. <em>.mp4</em> for MP4 videos). If the extension of your files is not recognized, the player will display an error. However, if you know your file is in a supported format, you can use the <em>type</em> playlist option to force the player to recognize the file as being of that format. See <a href="playlists.html">Working with Playlists</a> for more info.</p>
33
34<h2>Video Files</h2>
35
36<p>JW Player supports three types of video files:</p>
37
38<ul>
39<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP4">MP4</a> videos using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264">H.264</a> video codec and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding">AAC</a> audio codec. MP4 is of high quality and can be played in all browsers and devices. It is today's video format of choice.</li>
40<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLV">FLV</a> videos using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.263">H.263</a> video codec and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3">MP3</a> audio codec. FLV is of lower quality than MP4 and only supported in browsers that run Flash. Many existing video libraries are encoded in FLV.</li>
41<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebM">WebM</a> videos using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP8">VP8</a> video codec and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorbis">Vorbis</a> audio codec. WebM is royalty free and of comparable quality to MP4. It has limited browser and device support.</li>
42</ul>
43
44<p>Here is an overview of the recognized file extensions for these formats, plus their browser playback support:</p>
45
46<table><tr>
47    <th></th><th>mp4</th><th>flv</th><th>webm</th>
48</tr><tr>
49    <th>Extension(s)</th><td>.mp4, .m4v, .f4v</td><td>.flv</td><td>.webm</td>
50</tr><tr>
51    <th></th><td></td><td></td><td></td>
52</tr><tr>
53    <th>Internet Explorer</th><td>html5, flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>flash</td><td>-</td>
54</tr><tr>
55    <th>Chrome</th><td>html5, flash</td><td>flash</td><td>html5</td>
56</tr><tr>
57    <th>Firefox</th><td>flash</td><td>flash</td><td>html5</td>
58</tr><tr>
59    <th>Safari</th><td>html5, flash</td><td>flash</td><td>-</td>
60</tr><tr>
61    <th>iOS</th><td>html5</td><td>-</td><td>-</td>
62</tr><tr>
63    <th>Android</th><td>html5</td><td>-</td><td>html5 <sup>2</sup></td>
64</tr></table>
65
66<ol>
67    <li>HTML5 playback as of Internet Explorer 9.</li>
68    <li>WebM support as of Android 4.</li>
69</ol>
70
71<p>See <a href="encoding.html">Encoding Web Videos</a> for hints and tools on converting your video library to MP4.</p>
72
73
74<h2>Audio Files</h2>
75
76<p>JW Player supports three types of audio files:</p>
77
78<ul>
79<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding">AAC</a> audio files. AAC is of high quality and supported by all browsers and devices.</li>
80<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3">MP3</a> audio files. Though not as good in quality as AAC, MP3 is very widely used. Many existing audio libraries are encoded in MP3.</li>
81<li>Ogg <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorbis">Vorbis</a> audio files. Vorbis is royalty-free, but has limited browser and device support.</li>
82</ul>
83
84<p>Here is an overview of the recognized file extensions for these formats, plus their browser playback support:</p>
85
86<table><tr>
87    <th></th><th>aac</th><th>mp3</th><th>vorbis</th>
88</tr><tr>
89    <th>Extension(s)</th><td>.aac, .m4a, .f4a</td><td>.mp3</td><td>.ogg, .oga</td>
90</tr><tr>
91    <th></th><td></td><td></td><td></td>
92</tr><tr>
93    <th>Internet Explorer</th><td>html5, flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>html5, flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>-</td>
94</tr><tr>
95    <th>Chrome</th><td>html5, flash</td><td>html5, flash</td><td>html5</td>
96</tr><tr>
97    <th>Firefox</th><td>flash</td><td>flash</td><td>html5</td>
98</tr><tr>
99    <th>Safari</th><td>html5, flash</td><td>html5, flash</td><td>-</td>
100</tr><tr>
101    <th>iOS</th><td>html5</td><td>html5</td><td>-</td>
102</tr><tr>
103    <th>Android</th><td>html5</td><td>html5</td><td>html5 <sup>2</sup></td>
104</tr></table>
105
106<ol>
107    <li>HTML5 playback as of Internet Explorer 9.</li>
108    <li>Ogg Vorbis support as of Android 4.</li>
109</ol>
110
111
112<h2>Streaming Protocols</h2>
113
114<p>JW Player supports two types of streaming protocols:</p>
115
116<ul>
117<li>Apple's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming">HLS</a> protocol, using M3U8 manifest files and TS media files. HLS builds upon standard HTTP, making it easy to deploy and firewall resilient. It is still under development, plus CDN and encoder support is still limited. See <a href="#">Using HLS Streaming</a> for more info.</li>
118<li>Adobe's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Messaging_Protocol">RTMP</a> protocol, using SMIL manifest files and MP4, FLV, AAC or MP3 media files. RTMP requires dedicated server software and is sometimes blocked by firewalls. It is mature and has broad CDN and encoder support. See <a href="#">Using RTMP Streaming</a> for more info.</li>
119</ul>
120
121<p>Here is an overview of the recognized file extensions for these protocols, plus their browser playback support:</p>
122
123<table><tr>
124    <th></th><th>hls</th><th>rtmp</th>
125</tr><tr>
126    <th>Extension(s)</th><td>.m3u8</td><td>.smil</td>
127</tr><tr>
128    <th></th><td></td><td></td>
129</tr><tr>
130    <th>Internet Explorer</th><td>flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>flash</td>
131</tr><tr>
132    <th>Chrome</th><td>flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>flash</td>
133</tr><tr>
134    <th>Firefox</th><td>flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>flash</td>
135</tr><tr>
136    <th>Safari</th><td>html5, flash <sup>1</sup></td><td>flash</td>
137</tr><tr>
138    <th>iOS</th><td>html5</td><td>-</td>
139</tr><tr>
140    <th>Android</th><td>html5 <sup>2</sup></td><td>-</td>
141</tr></table>
142
143<ol>
144    <li>HLS playback requires Flash Player 10.1, which <a href="http://riastats.com/">is not yet ubiquitous</a>.</li>
145    <li>HLS support as of Android 4.</li>
146</ol>
147
148
149<h2>YouTube API</h2>
150
151<p>In addition to self-hosted audio, video and streaming formats, JW Player includes native support for playing
152YouTube videos. This possible through built-in support for the <a href="https://developers.google.com/youtube/flash_api_reference">Chromeless Player API</a>. YouTube videos are embedded by linking to their page, using one of the following schemes:</p>
153
154<ul>
155    <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylLzyHk54Z0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylLzyHk54Z0</a></li>
156    <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=ylLzyHk54Z0">http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=ylLzyHk54Z0</a></li>
157    <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ylLzyHk54Z0">http://www.youtube.com/v/ylLzyHk54Z0</a></li>
158    <li><a href="http://youtu.be/ylLzyHk54Z0">http://youtu.be/ylLzyHk54Z0</a></li>
159</ul>
160
161<p>The YouTube API requires the Flash plugin at present. Therefore, it is supported only on desktop browsers and Android devices running Flash. On iOS, limited playback support is available as part of the <a href="browsers.html">Download Fallback</a>. YouTube's experimental <a href="https://developers.google.com/youtube/iframe_api_reference">iFrame API</a> will likely introduce full HTML5 support in the future.</p>
162
163<p>Some additional notes on YouTube support:</p>
164
165<ul>
166<li>YouTube may place ads over the video during playback. These ads can not be disabled. Neither can the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner be removed.</li>
167<li>If the owner of a YouTube video has disabled it for embedding on 3rd party sites, JW Player cannot play the video. An error message is then displayed.</li>
168<li>YouTube videos are mostly available in multiple qualities, which means the JW Player's quality selector is automatically displayed in the controlbar.</li>
169</ul>
170
171
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