What's the easiest way to put a video in an HTML page?

[d000hg]

Is it possible to do this without any server-side code... simply store a movie file on the server and 'link' to it on the HTML page? I'd like to hope Flash would make this possible, is there any other easy option other than something like embedding a youtube video?

[NickFitz]

The HTML5 <video> element is the way of the future, with Flash fallback for older browsers.

If you don't want to deal with the codec/container problems, you could just use the Flash fallback for everything. Although then it won't work for people who block Flash...

Anyway, that chapter should tell you everything you need to know about video on the web, including links to and instructions for open source encoding tools and a Flash player

[d000hg]

HTML5 is kind of pointless as far as I'm concerned, since they can't even agree a codec. I'd be doing it to be modern, rather than practical. Flash is probably the easiest right now. True, some corporate environments will not allow it - but then they are almost certainly the kind of environments who won't be using HTML5 browsers either so I'm probably just as stuck either way

As always, thanks for the high-quality information though.

[lightng]

HTML5 is kind of pointless as far as I'm concerned, since they can't even agree a codec. I'd be doing it to be modern, rather than practical. Flash is probably the easiest right now. True, some corporate environments will not allow it - but then they are almost certainly the kind of environments who won't be using HTML5 browsers either so I'm probably just as stuck either way

As always, thanks for the high-quality information though.

You're going down the flash route? Think of all the poor Ipad users!

[Cliphead]

You're going down the flash route? Think of all the poor Ipad users!

[NickFitz]

HTML5 is kind of pointless as far as I'm concerned, since they can't even agree a codec. I'd be doing it to be modern, rather than practical. Flash is probably the easiest right now. True, some corporate environments will not allow it - but then they are almost certainly the kind of environments who won't be using HTML5 browsers either so I'm probably just as stuck either way

As always, thanks for the high-quality information though.

The <video> element is designed to contain alternative content, so you can do something like:

<video width="320" height="240" controls>
  <source src="NewOrleans2006.ogv" type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"'>
  <source src="NewOrleans2006.mp4" type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.42E01E, mp4a.40.2"'>
  <!-- the next bit will only be used by browsers that don't support <video> -->
  <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/watch_as3-vfl144654.swf" width="100%" id="movie_player" height="100%">
    <!--[if IE]><param name="movie" value="http://s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/watch_as3-vfl144654.swf"><![endif]-->
    <!-- and a bunch of other <param> stuff for Flash... -->
  </object>
</video>

That way, everybody should be happy. Given that Adobe have never yet managed to produce a version of Flash for OS X that doesn't use loads of CPU and send the fans crazy (as well as crashing on a regular basis), whereas HTML5 <video> doesn't stress the machine at all, Mac users would certainly be grateful

As it is, you already have to muck around with different stuff for different browsers in the <object> element, as IE (surprise) has a non-standard implementation thereof, so the extra markup isn't too much additional work. Also, if you don't want the hassle of encoding for the two codecs, I believe Firefox's implementation of <video> would, if it couldn't find an encoding it liked, also fall back to the Flash version using the H.264 file that both Flash and WebKit browsers would use if you go with the free Flash player recommended above.

If you just want to encode as FLV then this doesn't apply, but I don't know what free FLV players are available for embedding.

[Platypus]

What's wrong with just a link to an .AVI file ?

Ok, not very sophisticated, but should work, n'est pas?

[Durbs]

I've had to do this quite a lot recently for various clients and after trying loads of free and trial products and techniques i shelled out my hard-earned for: http://www.sothink.com/product/flash...oder/index.htm

Yes, it is Flash, and yes, i hate Flash BUT for the moment that is definately your best bet and is simple to do and pretty much universally supported (except on iPads).

[doodab]

<a href="my_video.mpeg">download my homemade porn here</a>

[DimPrawn]

<a href="my_video.mpeg">download my homemade porn here</a>

This is the 21st century. People expect streaming embedded video, not a 35 minute download of a video file that is missing the correct codec.

There is a reason why YouTube and a million other websites have chosen Flash to stream the video.

There's your answer.

Sorry ipod, iphone, ipad, ipants users.