ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web allows you to play audio and video streams by using the HTML5 player or Flash player. Flash Player is out of service and not supported by mainstream browsers. If you use a browser such as Internet Explorer or another browser that does not support the HTML5 player, you can use the Flash player. This topic describes the features and supported browsers of the HTML5 and Flash players provided by ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web.

Supported audio and video formats

Supported protocols and formats for video-on-demand

The following table describes the audio and video protocols and codecs supported by ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web.
Important You must use earlier browsers that support a Flash Player plug-in to play videos in the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) format. RTMP videos cannot be played by using the HTML5 player. The HTML5 player can be used to play videos in the Flash Video (FLV) format.
Player Video codec Video protocol Audio codec Audio file format
H5 H.264 MP4, FLV, and HTTP-Live-Streaming (HLS) AAC MP3
Flash player (update stopped) H.264 MP4, FLV, HLS, and RTMP AAC and MP3 MP3

Supported protocols for live streaming

The following table describes the live streaming protocols supported by ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web and their advantages and disadvantages.
Protocol Advantage Disadvantage Latency
HLS HLS is compatible with a variety of browsers. HLS has a considerably higher latency. > 10s
FLV FLV supports high concurrency and is suitable for native applications. Browsers require integration with ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web to play videos. 1s to 3s
RTMP RTMP has a considerably lower latency. RTMP is prone to stability issues in high-concurrency scenarios. 1s to 3s
RTS RTS performs well under poor network conditions. You can smoothly play streams even at a packet loss rate of 30%. Browsers require integration with ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web to play videos. < 1s

Browsers supported by the HTML5 player

The HTML5 player can be used in browsers on PCs and mobile devices.

Note We recommend that you use the browsers described in the following table for video playback. Otherwise, the playback may fail.

Supported browsers on PCs

Note To play video streams in the FLV or HLS format by using the HTML5 player on a PC browser, you must enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) for the domain name . For more information, see Configure CORS.
Browser MP4 FLV HLS MP3
Google Chrome √ Google Chrome 34 and later Google Chrome 34 and later √
Firefox √ Firefox 49 and later Firefox 49 and later √
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 9 and later
  • Video-on-demand (VOD) playback: Internet Explorer 11 and later for Windows 8.1 and later
  • Live streaming: Internet Explorer 11 and later for Windows 8.1 and later
Important You cannot play video streams in the FLV format in Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8 and later. This is because the value of mseLiveFlvPlayback is false in the flv.js file for Internet Explorer 11.

Internet Explorer 11 and later for Windows 8.1 and later

 Internet Explorer 9 and later
Microsoft Edge √ √ √ √
Opera √ √ √ √
Safari √ Safari 8 and later Safari 8 and later √
Supported browsers on mobile devices
Note ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web does not allow you to play video streams in the FLV format by using the HTML5 player on mobile browsers.
Table 1. Supported browsers on Android devices
Browser MP4 FLV HLS MP3
Google Chrome √ × Google Chrome 34 and later √
Firefox √ × Firefox 49 and later √
WeChat √ × √ √
Microsoft Edge √ × √ √
Opera √ × √ √
Table 2. Supported browsers on iOS devices
Browser MP4 FLV HLS MP3
Google Chrome √ × Google Chrome 34 and later √
Firefox √ × Firefox 49 and later √
WeChat √ × √ √
Microsoft Edge √ × √ √
Opera √ × √ √
Safari √ × Safari 8 and later √

Features of the HTML5 player supported by browsers

Feature PC Mobile device References
Full-screen playback By default, the full-screen playback feature is disabled. By default, the full-screen playback feature is enabled. You can disable the feature based on your needs.
Important
  • The full-screen playback feature cannot be disabled in Safari on iOS versions earlier than iOS 10.
  • If you play videos in inline mode, you need to modify the video size based on the resolution of transcoded videos. Otherwise, black bars may be displayed.
Advanced features
Autoplay The autoplay feature that is provided by ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web is not supported in specific browsers.
  • Autoplay is not supported in Safari 11 and later versions in macOS High Sierra.
  • Autoplay is not supported in Google Chrome 55 and later versions.
By default, autoplay is disabled. You can configure specific settings to enable this feature.
Note Specific browsers and WebView-based apps allow autoplay. This commonly occurs on Android devices.
Advanced features
Volume adjustment Supported

The video.volume property is read-only in iOS and specific Android systems. Therefore, the getVolume and setVolume methods provided by ApsaraVideo Player SDK for Web are invalid for iOS and specific Android systems.

Basic features
Playback speed Supported You cannot set the playback speed in specific mobile browsers, such as the WeChat browser for Android. Basic features
HLS-encrypted video playback
  • Google Chrome
  • FireFox
  • Safari
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Internet Explorer 11 and later versions for Windows 8.1 and later versions
 Supported Play an encrypted video
Playback of videos encrypted by using Alibaba Cloud proprietary cryptography
Note For security reasons, you cannot use Alibaba Cloud proprietary cryptography to encrypt actual videos in use for debugging.
  • Google Chrome (Recommended)
  • FireFox
  • Safari
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Internet Explorer 11 and later versions for Windows 8.1 and later versions
Note Specific third-party browsers may modify the settings of ApsaraVideo Player SDK without your authorization or knowledge. In this case, videos encrypted by using Alibaba Cloud proprietary cryptography cannot be played. To resolve this issue, we recommend that you use the HLS or digital rights management (DRM) encryption method to encrypt videos.

This feature is not supported in iOS browsers.

This feature is supported only in Google Chrome for Android.

Playback of DRM-encrypted live streams
Windows
  • Google Chrome
  • Opera
  • FireFox
  • Microsoft Edge
macOS
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari
  • FireFox
  • Opera
  • Microsoft Edge
iOS
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari
Android
  • Google Chrome for Android 10 and later
  • Microsoft Edge
Playback of VOD files encrypted by using DRM
Windows
  • Google Chrome
  • Opera
  • FireFox
  • Microsoft Edge
macOS
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari
  • FireFox
  • Opera
  • Microsoft Edge
iOS
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari
Android
  • Google Chrome for Android 10 and later
  • Microsoft Edge

Browsers supported by the Flash player

The Flash player is supported only by PC browsers. The following table describes the videos in different formats that can be played in the Flash player on specific browsers.

Note To use the Flash player in Internet Explorer 8, you must add the reference to the json.min.js file in the browser. For more information, see Integration.
Browser MP4 FLV HLS RTMP MP3
Google Chrome √ √ √ √ √
Firefox √ √ √ √ √
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 8 and later Internet Explorer 8 and later Internet Explorer 8 and later Internet Explorer 8 and later Internet Explorer 8 and later
Microsoft Edge √ √ √ √ √
Opera √ √ √ √ √
Safari √ √ √ √ √