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HTML <video> Tag


Example

Play a video:

<video width="320" height="240" controls>
  <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg">
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The <video> tag specifies video, such as a movie clip or other video streams.

Currently, there are 3 supported video formats for the <video> element: MP4, WebM, and Ogg:

Browser MP4 WebM Ogg
Internet Explorer YES NO NO
Chrome YES YES YES
Firefox YES
from Firefox 21
from Firefox 30 for Linux
YES YES
Safari YES NO NO
Opera YES
From Opera 25
YES YES
  • MP4 = MPEG 4 files with H264 video codec and AAC audio codec
  • WebM = WebM files with VP8 video codec and Vorbis audio codec
  • Ogg = Ogg files with Theora video codec and Vorbis audio codec

MIME Types for Video Formats

Format MIME-type
MP4 video/mp4
WebM video/webm
Ogg video/ogg

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the element.

Element
<video> 4.0 9.0 3.5 4.0 10.5

Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

The <video> tag is new in HTML5.


Tips and Notes

Tip: Any text between the <video> and </video> tags will be displayed in browsers that do not support the <video> element.


Optional Attributes

= New in HTML5.

Attribute Value Description
autoplay autoplay Specifies that the video will start playing as soon as it is ready
controls controls Specifies that video controls should be displayed (such as a play/pause button etc).
height pixels Sets the height of the video player
loop loop Specifies that the video will start over again, every time it is finished
muted muted Specifies that the audio output of the video should be muted
poster URL Specifies an image to be shown while the video is downloading, or until the user hits the play button
preload auto
metadata
none
Specifies if and how the author thinks the video should be loaded when the page loads
src URL Specifies the URL of the video file
width pixels Sets the width of the video player

Global Attributes

The <video> tag also supports the Global Attributes in HTML.


Event Attributes

The <video> tag also supports the Event Attributes in HTML.


Related Pages

HTML DOM reference: HTML Audio/Video DOM Reference


Default CSS Settings

None.