Top 6 HTML5 players to integrate streaming into your website

According to Social Media Week findings, 78% of internet users watch videos every week and 55% of them do it every day. 54% of the study participants would like to watch videos even more often.

Streaming has become the most popular content type. Many companies use it to achieve their business goals. In many cases, businesses are striving to prevent the viewers from switching to third-party sites because it is of vital importance for them to keep traffic coming in to their website.

To achieve this, you’ll need a good HTML5 player that supports all the necessary functions and can be easily and organically integrated into your website.

In this article, we will talk about the most popular HTML5 players in 2022. We will show you how to embed them into your website or application and provide a number of specific code examples.

Each of the players described below (as well as any other player) can be used to hold broadcasts on the Gcore Streaming Platform. We will show you several examples of how you can do this.

How to choose an HTML5 player for your needs

HTML5 players can be easily integrated into your website. No additional plugins are needed for that purpose.

Modern players have many different functions and features. There are both free and paid solutions. The paid ones usually have a wider set of functions and offer more integration opportunities. Yet a paid player is not always the best choice. For many tasks, using a free option will be enough.

It’s important to find a player that will both meet your project needs and allow you to remain within your budget.

Before choosing a solution, be sure to define which tasks the player is supposed to solve. Do you need such functions as subtitles or live stream rewind? Are you going to insert ads into the video and if so, then which protocols are you going to use for this purpose? Which video transfer protocols should your player support? Considering all these questions will help you make the right decision.

And we will provide a list of the players you can choose from.

Top 6 HTML5 players in 2022

1. Gcore

We’d like to start with our own HTML5 player. If you stream your videos using our platform, this option will be ideal for you as it is extremely easy to integrate and configure.

The player is available in two versions: standard and advanced. These differ in terms of the functions available. If you are connected to our platform, the standard version is free for you regardless of your plan.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD (Video on Demand).
• Support for the following protocols and formats: HLS, MPEG-DASH, Low-Latency MPEG-DASH (Chunked CMAF), MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMW, MKV, WebM, MXF, QuickTime, etc.
• Support for 360° video.
• The opportunity to insert pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and pause-roll ads using VAST/VPAID.
• Functions: subtitles, playlists, autoplay, adaptive bitrate, and so on. The advanced version includes such functions as full branding and customization, DVR, protected playback, connection with the Google Analytics counter, etc. You can view the full list of functions on the player’s page.

Integrating our player into your resource comes easily. All you need to do is add the following HTML code:

You can design the player as you wish and configure the necessary functions using the convenient control panel of our Streaming Platform. You won’t need to add anything to the code.

2. Video.js

This is an open-source HTML player. It’s quite a popular option that is currently used by more than 450 thousand websites.

The Video.js player functions can be configured with the help of more than 100 plugins. You can select and enable only the functions that you need.

This player’s only drawback is that it does not support data transfer protocols for low-latency streaming, like Chunked CMAF, Low-Latency HLS, WebRTC, etc.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD.
• Support for the following protocols and formats: HLS, MPEG-DASH, MP4, WebM.
• Customization and branding opportunities with the help of CSS and plugins.
• Integration with YouTube and Vimeo.
• Functions via plugins: playlists, ad insertion, video encryption, adaptive bitrate, screenshot generation, analytics, broadcast recording, and so on. You can view the full plugin list on the player’s website.

To integrate the player into your website, use the following code:

3. MediaElement.js

This is a free, easy-to-use and pretty convenient HTML5 player. Most of its functions, just like with Video.js, can be configured using plugins. MediaElement.js does not have so many plugins but they cover all the necessary functions.

Compared to other players in our top list, MediaElement.js has the widest capabilities in terms of integration with other websites. It can also serve as a wrapper for YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, Facebook, Dailymotion, and other players.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD.
• Support for the following protocols and formats: HLS, MPEG-DASH, MP4.
• Ad insertion using VAST/VPAID (via plugin).
• Customization capabilities.
• Functions via plugins: playlists, video acceleration, screenshots, connection with Google Analytics, etc. You can view the full plugin list on GitHub.

Player integration:

4. Clappr

This is an open-source HTML player with ample customization capabilities. It can play videos on all devices including computers, smartphones, tablets, and TV.

Just like in some of the players mentioned above, Clappr functions are configured using plugins. This player doesn’t have as many plugins as Video.js but it has some unique plugins that few open-source solutions have, for example, the DVR plugin.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD.
• Support for the following protocols and formats: HLS, MPEG-DASH, MP4.
• Full customization and branding using plugins.
• Functions via plugins: subtitles, DVR, statistics, connection with Google Analytics, etc. You can view the full plugin list on GitHub.

Player integration:

5. Hls.js

This is yet another open-source solution. It’s a multifunctional player that is easy to integrate. It is based on the jаvascript library. The main protocols it supports include HLS and fragmented MP4 (fMP4). The player can convert MPEG-2 and AAC/MP3 segments into fragmented MP4.

Hls.js offers many opportunities in terms of API customization. You can set the buffer size, the transmitted segment length, and the bitrate.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD.
• Support for the following protocols and formats: HLS, fMP4; the capability to convert MPEG-2 and AAC/MP3 into fMP4.
• Video encryption.
• Set of functions: DVR, subtitles, alternative audio tracks for Live and VOD, adaptive bitrate, analytics, etc. You can view the full list of functions on GitHub.

Player integration:

6. Dash.js

This open-source player was developed on the DASH Industry Forum’s initiative. It was created using jаvascript client libraries and can play MPEG-DASH videos.

This player’s functionality is not that wide compared to other open-source solutions mentioned above. Yet it can provide low-latency streaming and supports all the necessary protocols to do it.

Player features:

• Support for Live and VOD.
• Support for the following protocols and formats: MPEG-DASH, Chunked CMAF.
• Set of functions: adaptive bitrate, DRM, autoplay, etc. You can view the full list of functions on GitHub.

Player integration:

Summary

1. Companies use video content to achieve their business goals. To integrate streams into your website and prevent the users from switching to third-party websites, you need a high-quality HTML5 player that will be easy to build into your website or application.
2. It is very important to choose a solution that suits you in terms of both functions and price. Paid players are not always better than the free ones. An open-source solution may turn out to be suitable for your project. The main point is that the player should meet your needs.
3. To make your choice easier, we’ve enlisted top 6 modern players having advanced features: Gcore, Video.js, Media.Element.js, Clappr, Hls.js, Dash.js.
4. All these players, as well as any other options, can be used to broadcast videos using our Streaming Platform.

Our Streaming Platform can help you deliver video content in up to 8K quality to 1,000,000+ viewers with the delays not exceeding 4–5 seconds.

We protect your content against illegal viewing and copying and provide effective monetization tools.

Create unique content and broadcast it on your website, and we’ll solve all the technical issues.

More about our Streaming Platform