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https://github.com/globocom/gifv-player

Javascript library for playing video files with gif fallback
https://github.com/globocom/gifv-player

Last synced: 3 months ago
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Javascript library for playing video files with gif fallback

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# gifv-player



Javascript library for playing [gifv][gifv] files with video browser support detection

and fallback for pure gif.



[Check out the demo!][demo]



[gifv]: http://imgur.com/blog/2014/10/09/introducing-gifv/

[demo]: http://globocom.github.io/gifv-player/demo/



## Usage



Include the `dist/js/gifv-player.min.js` script in the page and initialize.



```html



new GifvPlayer();

```



The script will search the page for `.gifv-player` wrappers containing a `video`

tag with the available video formats in `source` tags, a `img` tag for

the video thumbnail and the original gif URL in the `data-gifv-original`

attribute as a fallback for browsers that don't support video.



```html



    

        

        

    

    

    




```



## Gif conversion to video



`gifv` isn't really an image or video format, it is a technique

[introduced by imgur][gifv] to reduce bandwidth usage by converting animated

GIF files to browser supported video formats.



[Thumbor][Thumbor] is a great companion to `gifv-player` as it allows

[on-the-fly animated GIF conversion][Thumbor-Gifv] to webm and mp4 formats.



[Thumbor]: https://github.com/thumbor/thumbor

[Thumbor-Gifv]: https://github.com/thumbor/thumbor/wiki/GifV



## Lessons learned / video support gotchas



This library was tested on multiple browsers and devices and some issues

required workarounds.



The following list may help debugging playback problems or applying custom CSS

or having playback issues.



### Click is not triggered



On some versions of Safari on iOs, tapping on the video may not trigger a click.



**Solution:** Initially hide the video tag with `display:none` and show on play.



### Poster image is not loaded / blackened



On Chrome for iOs the image on `poster` isn't loaded.



**Solution:** Use an `img` tag on top of the `video` tag.



### Video tag dimensions are ignored



On iOs, [video dimensions are not applied][video-dimensions-stack-overflow],

it seems that the video file is not loaded and default iOs dimensions are used.



**Solution:** Make `video` tag use `position:absolute` and have 100% of the

`.gifv-player` container's dimensions. Use the `img` to stretch the container

to the intended dimensions. Control the visibility of the `img` with

`visibility:hidden/visible`.



[video-dimensions-stack-overflow]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14250583/safari-on-ipad-ios6-does-not-scale-html5-video-to-fill-100-of-page-width



### Video is stuck (paused) on fullscreen after second play



On iOs, after the first play, the video may get stuck on pause because clicking

the "OK" or "Done" button on the fullscreen view does not pause the video.



**Solution**: Force the video to pause on `webkitendfullscreen` event.



### `loadeddata` event isn't triggered on IE 9 (maybe IE9+).



This event was used to hide the poster image. The video was playing but it was

covered by the image.



**Solution**: Additionally to listening to the `loadeddata` event, use the

`play` event.



### Weird playback in some browsers



It seems that Chrome plays Webm better than mp4, or the video may be malformed.

It might be a codec issue. This is not easily reproduced.



**Solution:** Usually, `webm` produces smaller file sizes and is better

supported, add the `webm` source tag before the `mp4` tag to make it first

choice for the browser.