Top 17 Online Video Player in 2024 For Your Website

When looking for an online video player for your website, you might hear the names of YouTube and Vimeo before anything else. That’s because these are quick, easy, and free options readily available to you. However, if you want more control over your video assets, and how they are displayed and want to learn how users interact with your content and engage with it, you might need a private video player.

Flash-based players have become obsolete now and HTML5 video players have become the new industry standard. For facilitating seamless integration on your website, we suggest the best video players for you in this article. These media players offer an advanced marketing toolkit to you that helps you reach your business goals.

But, before we do that, let’s look at what an HTML5 video player does.

What is an Online Video Player?

HTML5 Video Player is a library of JavaScript that builds HTML controls over the top of the HTML5 video element. This provides a uniform look between different browsers.

HTML5 online video players allow you to play video online directly in a web browser without the use of additional plugins. Some time ago, we installed a Flash media player to stream videos. But, HTML5 video players offer an easy way to integrate native video players on your website. While you can still embed YouTube videos, here’s a more handy way to showcase videos to your visitors, whether you are a personal trainer creating exercise demo videos or an influencer making a funny video.

HTML5 video players only need you to use the video element. Set the width and height for the video size and control attributes to add functions such as play and pause or set up the video to play automatically.

Most sophisticated browsers now support HTML5 videos, so online video playing is now more comfortable both on desktop and mobile screens.

Should you go with a propriety media player or one that’s open-source and free?

Open-Source Online Video Player vs Propriety Media Player

Open source players offer some degree of advantage over those you need to purchase licenses.

Cost

Open-source html5 video players are free for you to use. You can even evaluate and review their source code.

Propriety media players often come at a premium price. But you’d get a lot of options of features and integrations which would otherwise take considerable development cost on your end.

Bugs

Popular open-source solutions tend to have fewer bugs and faster fixes because of the community support they come with.

For propriety solutions, you can reach out to the team concerned and let them fix the problem for you. This is why before choosing a propriety solution you should check if they have good customer support.

Customization

Open-source products have a high potential for customization. Almost everything you see is customizable, so the tool can be tailored to meet your unique needs. You get access to free and instant support from a global community of developers and enthusiasts who are more than happy to assist the users of their solution.

For propriety online media players, you may not get much control over the customization as you’re buying the finished product. But these often come preloaded with features and themes which will make it much easier to tinker with.

Support

With open-source HTML5 video players, you get proper documentation, wikis, newsgroups, and email lists, as well as an option for a live chat whenever you face a glitch.

With propriety online media players, you get the support of the team you bought the services from. They’ll take care of your issues without the hassle of going through multiple documentation, videos, etc. This is ideal for people who are not tech-savvy or have low bandwidth.

Top 17 Online Video Players

Next, let’s look at the top online video players that support HTML5 playback.

1. Video.js

VideoJS is a free and open-source online video player that includes features such as basic playback options such as autoplay and preload. VideoJS uses JavaScript to plug cross-browser inconsistencies, ensuring your content appears in the best light. It can also add support for HTML5 tags on older IE versions, and introduce functionalities such as subtitles and full-screen displays.

Other standout features can be introduced in VideoJS with the help of plugins. You can track Google Analytics ever right from the player, add your branding in the player controls, and introduce Chromecast support.

2. VdoCipher 

Vdocipher provides an HTML5 video player with the added advantage of DRM encryption technology to secure videos and stop video piracy by preventing them from being downloaded/pirated. It uses Dash as an open-source base to build the DRM-encrypted playback in an online video player.

The player supports functionalities like Multiple quality options, Adaptive playback, Responsive design, Multi-lingual subtitles, Forward/Rewind options, and various player themes in different colors. You can create your custom video player now using Vdocipher player, change the complete appearance, and edit controls as per your need.

With some added scripts, you can also add CTAs like buttons/forms, etc over the VdoCipher player. A free 30-day trial is available at vdocipher.com.

Vdocipher also provides you with secure video hosting allowing you to stream your videos most smoothly and securely. It is ideal for anyone looking to build a video platform.

3. Flowplayer

Flowplayer is a free and easy-to-use alternative to convert FLV or MP4 videos to pages and posts. Along with MP4 movies, Flowplayer also provides protection on mobile devices. It helps in the automated checking of video encoding for logged-in administrators. You can apply branding at the end and the start of the videos. Moreover, users can enjoy unlimited instances on a single page.

A few other features include Google Analytics, Subtitles, Slow motion, Native fullscreen, Keyboard shortcuts, Random seeking, Retina ready, Cuepoints, and so on, without the use of expensive plugins. It also comes with video intelligence and video ads support, full support for Amazon S3 and other CDNs, Flash fallback, and high efficiency.

4. Projekktor online video player

Projekktor is a self-hosted environment available as an open-source online javascript video player. It was released under GPLv3 and is written using JavaScript. Projekktor effectively manages al compatibility issues and cross-browser issues while offering a set of powerful features.

The key features of this HTML5 video player are automatic detection of the best way to play your favorite video, its impressive and attractive aesthetics and user-friendly behavior, consistent performance and high reliability.

Projekktor library features also include pre-roll and post-roll ads, Flash fallback with RTMP support, playlist building, and true fullscreen.

5. jPlayer

jPlayer is a free and open-source media library written in JavaScript. jPlayer allows quick weaving of cross-platform video and audio into your website pages through a jQuery plugin. Its holistic API supports innovative media solutions as the active and engaging open-source community around jPlayer extends support.

You can seamlessly install a package for PHP to download all components and install the required files into the specific path for installation.

Features of jPlayer include easy installation, comprehensive documentation, extensible architecture and cross-browser support, plugins, custom skin options, and so on.

6. Plyr

Plyr is a lightweight, simple, and customizable online video player. It offers support for HTML Vimeo and YouTube players. It is popular in both experts and beginners circles for its lightweight configuration that enables smooth processing for large video files. Plyr intuitively makes things easier with useful elements that help seamless project completion.

Features of Plyr include accessibility (offers full support for VTT captions and screen readers), a lightweight player that does not occupy a lot of space on the server, several customization options, responsiveness to fit any screen size, support for streaming and audio formats.

7. Afterglow

Afterglow is simple to integrate HTML5 video player with features that can be turned off, so you are not forced to use them. It is a configurable, self-integrating, open-source online video player that can be nicely recorded. 

A few standout features of Afterglow are its cross-browser compatibility (works on all major browsers and devices and supports IE down to IE9), drop-in replacement, full responsiveness (fits into your design perfectly), and resolution switching capabilities (offers an easy way to serve your videos in HD and SD).

Another great thing about this online media player is a nice wizard that helps with direct integration. If you let them know where you want to host your videos, they will give you the steps containing scripts.

8. MediaElement.js

This is a jQuery plugin that enables you to use the video tag with a single H.264 file. If your online video player does not support HTML5, MediaElementJS will replace the online media player with a Fash or Silverlight-based one. Everyone can contribute to improving this product as it’s free and open-source.

It supports the more standard and desirable features such as standard play controls, fullscreen video display, skinning, and also has a plugin architecture to support unique features. These sophisticated features include auto-translation (with Google Translate), jump forward, skip back, looping, post-roll (showcasing custom HTML after a video ends), and virtual backlight that frames the video with matching colors taken from it during playback (a feature available only with HTML5 video player).

9. JW Player

JW Player accommodated support for HTML5 video playback. The online media player is fully customizable with a wide range of features that enhance the accessibility of content and responsiveness of HTML5 videos.

JW Player offers a complete suite of HTML5 video controls. It is also compatible as an alternative to YouTube’s online video player. JW Player also supports a wide range of user-defined themes. Its plugins are consistent with the more popular CMS system, making it easier and quicker to integrate.

This online media player also boasts of sophisticated analytics features that allow users to see how well their video content is performing on the website, enabled password-protected sharing, schedule ads, create video gallery, and more. Other features include add-ons ranging from closed captioning to advertising tie-ups, social sharing options, and so on. 

11. Video for Everybody

This is one of the earliest solutions for embedding HTML5 and Flash videos and is also simplistic in its feature set and usability. It comprises of a fundamental set of markups that use HTML5 and its capability to move to the next supported object if the current one fails. This means it uses the <video> element to enclose each HTML5 video container source.

It falls back to Flash if the browser does not support HTML5. Features include a bunch of custom controls, support for iPhone and iPad, WebM video support, and more. Video for Everybody online video player does not support JavaScript or Browser sniffing.

11. Kaltura player

Kaltura HTML5 video player is a free and open-source online video player. It is used to create multiple customized inter-browser and inter-device skins to match or complement your site. Kaltura online video player also comes with a lot of player templates.

Features include multi-platform support, robust performance, and advertising and analytics capabilities (it supports several ad formats such as VAST 3.0 and integrated plugins for video ad networks, such as Tremor Video, AdapTV, Eye Wonder, Ad Tech, DoubleClick DFP, and so on).

12. Elite

Elite Video Player is a fully customizable online video player for WordPress that offers advertising support. The responsive HTML5 video player offers playback for platforms such as Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive, and self-hosting videos (only mp4).

A few standout features of Elite Video Player include YouTube 360 VR and live streaming support, Google Drive and Open load videos, advertising with pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll ads, video ads, popup ads, and so on. 

The responsiveness of this online video player makes it an instant choice for users accessing sites through their mobile devices.

13. Ultimate Video Player

Ultimate Video Player is another responsive audio and video player that supports Vimeo and YouTube videos. It needs an mp4 or mp3 format. The online video player can work on mobile devices as well as desktop regardless of the browser used. 

Features of the Ultimate Video Player include encryption capabilities for video source or path to avoid users from seeing the source of the video, optimization for mobile devices and desktop, multiple video quality support and a video quality selector, password-protected videos, live streaming support, support for 360-degree or VR-based videos, subtitles selector, playback speed selector, branding options, and video download options.

As opposed to the other open-source and free HTML5 video players shared in this article, this one comes at a price of $49 for six-months support.

14. Elmedia Player

Elmedia online video player can play all kinds of videos. This Mac OS online media player can allow users to showcase videos from popular sites such as Dailymotion, Vimeo, Facebook, and more. Also, you can allow users to download these videos fro your website. Elmedia can play video online in formats such as M4V, MKV, MP3, DAT, MOV, HTML5, and more.

Standout features of Elmedia HTML5 video player include an online video showcasing capabilities, support for hardware acceleration, capturing screenshots from the videos, SWF support, video downloading options, and capabilities to extract audio files from the video.

15. Chameleon HTML5 Video Player

Chameleon HTML5 player comes with a backup for Flash. Internet Explorer does not support the full-screen experience we are so used to. Also, in order to view HTML5 in IE, you might need to produce extra videos since the browser does not encourage the mp4 file sort.

Chameleon addresses these challenges through its instinctive Flash backup. Features include two skins to choose from, a custom right-click menu with an option to add a copyright link, social sharing options, responsiveness, retina display for MacBook Pro, and more.

16. Cloudinary video player

This HTML5 video player is primarily aimed for use by enterprises and businesses. The web video player is optimized for best-in-class viewer experience and supports high-quality, high-resolution videos and adaptive streaming. 

Cloudinary stands apart from these names for its functionality to offer video encoding, hosting service, and manipulation service for video assets. The transformations to the video that you choose happen at the player level, and on the fly. The web video player contains lightweight, user-friendly embed codes that allow for seamless integration of the HTML video player to an organization’s website.

Furthermore, Cloudinary’s built-in video analytics offer insights and actionable data on viewer engagement and interaction, besides video performance in terms of conversion rates.

17. WordPress Video Gallery 

This is one of the simplest online video players available with the ability to make creative videos on any website page using interactive and intuitive shortcut commands. Users can process their video assets with unique custom post settings and then distributed videos can be brought up at once using shortcut keys.

WordPress Video Gallery is a responsive and customizable tool as it facilitates the screen to shrink to manage mobile device displays. A few of its incredible features include preloading videos, managing the gallery, controlling size variations, and setting initial image or thumbnail.

HTML5 Player advantage over Flash

An HTML5 video offers several advantages over Flash Player, such as:

• Less Complexity – You can create a single-player solution for desktop and mobile web view.
• Happier Viewers – Due to the small size of the player code the webpage loads faster and allows a shorter start time of playback.
• More Power – In comparison to a Flash player, an HTML5 player uses very less CPU and storage resources resulting in reduced battery consumption on laptops with native playback support
• Lower Costs – When using advanced codecs, an HTML5 player has lower distribution and storage costs.
• Broad device support – It is supported with billions of endpoints for all the latest devices and browsers
• DRM Support – HTML5 video is a viable platform for premium content as it offers DRM-encrypted playback.
• Adaptive streaming – To cater to users with varying bandwidth needs, adaptive bitrate streaming makes data usage economical with a better user experience.
• Next-Generation Video Compression – HTML5 video supports next-generation video compression like VP9 codec, which can reduce the video bit rates by as much as 45% compared to H.264.
• Switch has already been made – Major sites (Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube) have already switched to HTML5 video players for better control and viewing experience.

Key Feature Comparison

Feature	HTML5 Video	Flash Video
Customizable Player	Yes	Yes
Platform	Native support in browser	Plugin
DRM decryption	Yes	Yes
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming	Yes	Yes
Ad Insertion	Yes	Yes
Plugin load time	N/A (0 m/s)	500ms–2000ms
GPU accelerated decode	Yes	Yes
Full Screen Viewing	Yes	Yes
Ad Protocol Support	VPAID 2	VPAID 1 and 2

Technology Comparison

Feature	HTML5 Technology	Flash Technology
Supported Codecs	H.264 (most browsers) VP8/VP9 (Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Android)	VP6, H.264
DRM Support	Widevine, Playready, Fairplay PrimeTime (depends upon browser)	PrimeTime (formerly Access)
Supported Containers	mp4, WebM, m2ts (depends on browser)	mp4, flv
Adaptive Bitrate Support	MPEG-DASH	HLS, HDS

What Features Matter the most in an HTML5 Video Player?

When selecting an HTML5 video player, there are a few features that can be vital for your business. Here are the important features you need to look for.

Player Performance 

While choosing an HTML5 video player, you need to look into the fact there aren’t any issues with video playback. There shouldn’t be any buffering issues or other playback-related errors. Also, look into the performance and speed of the video player. Player needs to have a fast loading time and a good user experience.

Customization of Video Player Controls

Branding is very important, choose a player that allows you to customize the player to suit your brand. Customization should include changing the player controls and colors of the player to suit your brand. 

Other features you need to look out for are chapters for navigation, search through the transcription, and much more.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

A lot of your users would be from areas with lower internet speeds. This would cause a lot of issues if you were only streaming high-quality videos. To tackle this problem, a lot of online video players provide adaptive bitrate streaming, which ensures your video scales according to the internet bandwidth and there is no buffering. 

DRM Protection

DRM encryption ensures your content is protected and cannot be illegally downloaded. Choose an online video player which provides DRM, to make sure that your content can not be pirated.  Other security features like Dynamic watermarking, Playintegrity integration, and user-based security analytics are also important.

Cross-browser Compatibility

Every browser and device you want to stream might have a different player associated with it. So building a player is not just about a single player but a different player for each of these situations, and making sure that users get the same experience in all of them. Whether the user is streaming on the web, iOS, android, react native, or Flutter, your user’s experience shouldn’t be compromised.

Wrapping It Up

These online HTML5 video players are widely used over the Internet by various companies and individuals to embed videos on their site. 

Integrating videos on your website gives your website and the page a unique appeal, enhances the quality of the content on your page, and offers a visual break from the text. You might want to use videos on your website to add to the content already offered, give your users an introduction about your offerings, or integrate customer feedback and review videos for added credibility.

Therefore, it is time you choose one of these popular HTML5 video payers to show awesome videos on your website and augment the value offered.

Find out more about on how to prevent video download on the blog linked. We’ve also written a blog on how to stream videos on iOS using AVPlayer, do check it out to know more about video streaming in iOS.

FAQs

What are the benefits of using an open video player?

There are several benefits of using an open video player. Firstly, open video players are usually free to download and use. Secondly, they support various video formats, making them versatile and convenient. Also, most open video players offer advanced features, such as the ability to play videos online in full-screen mode or to fast-forward and rewind.

What are some of the benefits of using an HTML5 video player?

Custom HTML5 video players are that they are typically faster and more lightweight than other video players, they can be customized to match the look and feel of your website, and support a variety of video formats.

What is the need for an HTML5 video player?

HTML5 is the newest version of the HTML standard, and it includes new features that allow video to be played natively in web browsers. Video files are typically encoded in the H.264 or WebM format, and HTML5 video players will usually support both of these formats.