Deliver Professional-Grade Playback Quickly and Easily
An adaptive bitrate HTML5 player for delivering optimized HD-quality video and audio experiences.
Configure
Quick setup for consistent experiences on any device (mobile, desktop, Android, iOS, Windows, Mac).
Embed
Automated embed-code generation for fast, easy integration.
Analyze
View stream-playback data to understand and track viewing trends and statistics.
Wowza Player Features
High-Quality Experiences
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
Artificial intelligence optimizes streaming bitrates based upon changing network conditions.
Rapid Startup
Player pre-fetches assets for faster playback startup.
Any Device
HTML5 player delivers consistent experiences to any device and any browser.
Flexible and Programmable
JavaScript API
Programmatic control of functionality, through a JavaScript API, for custom applications and automated workflow integration.
Customizable Replay Window
Application and web developers can designate a DVR range to establish the number of seconds that a viewer can rewind, replay, or skip ahead for live broadcasts.
Configuration UI
Fast, simple Wowza player setup, customization and configuration through the web-based Player Builder; quickly and easily generate embed code.
Rich Streaming Capabilities
DVR
Wowza Player allows viewers to pause and rewind live streams.
VOD
Play, pause, and jump to any point during on-demand video or audio playback.
Audio Streaming
Stream live and on-demand audio, with support for ID3 tags.
Stream Analytics
View stream-playback session statistics and trends.
Autoplay
Wowza Player plays content automatically in supported browsers.
- General FAQs
-
- Q: What is Wowza Player?
- A: Wowza Player is an HTML5 embeddable streaming-media player for HLS video and audio streaming via Wowza Streaming Engine™ and Wowza Streaming Cloud™.
- Q: How do I sign up for Wowza Player?
- A: Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Cloud Customers with a valid (commercial or trial) license can sign up for Player at: https://player.wowza.com.
- Q: Is a separate license required for Player?
- A: Yes. If you have a valid (commercial or trial) Wowza Streaming Engine or Wowza Streaming Cloud license, you can request a Wowza Player key by clicking the Get Wowza Player button at the top of this page.
- Q: I have signed up for Wowza Player. Now how do I access the Player Builder?
- A: Using your Wowza account login credentials, you can access the Player Builder at: https://player.wowza.com/.
- Q: Where can I find documentation on getting started and the general operation of Wowza Player ?
- A: The most current documentation for Wowza Player is available in the Wowza Support docs: https://www.wowza.com/docs/wowza-player.
- Q: What is the pricing for Wowza Player?
- A: Wowza Player is free to Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Cloud customers with a valid (commercial or trial) license.
- Q: How do I file an issue regarding Wowza Player?
- A: Issues with Wowza Player can be filed by opening a support ticket at: https://www.wowza.com/support/open-ticket. File the ticket under the Wowza product with which you are using Player (either Wowza Streaming Engine or Wowza Streaming Cloud).
- Technical Specifications
-
- Q: What operating systems are supported for Wowza Player?
- A: Wowza Player runs on Windows 7 or later and Mac OSX 10.8 and later.
- Q: What browsers are supported for Wowza Player?
- A: Internet Explorer 8.0 or greater, Firefox 5.0 or greater, Chrome 36 or greater and Safari 7.0 or greater.
- Q: What codecs does Wowza Player support?
- A: Wowza Player supports H.264 video codecs and IHE-AAC (v1/2) and LC-AAC (v1/2) audio codecs.
- Q: What protocols are supported by Wowza Player?
- A: Wowza Player supports Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) streams and—for customers with Wowza Streaming Cloud premium Ultra Low Latency Service—the WOWZ ultra low latency protocol.
- Q: Does Wowza Player support AES-128 encryption?
- A: Wowza Player doesn’t support AES-128 encryption, however, it does support SecureToken playback protection from Wowza Streaming Engine. For more information, see Protect streaming using SecureToken in Wowza Streaming Engine.
- Q: Where can I find the Wowza Player release notes?
- A: View the release notes here.
- Features
-
- Q: What general features does Wowza Player include?
-
A: The Wowza Player release supports the following:
- HLS streaming
- Live and video-on-demand (VOD) streaming
- Adaptive bitrate streaming
- Click-and-drag resizing
- VOD playback
- Customizable DVR rewind/skip-ahead window configuration
- Web-based Wowza Player Builder UI for player customization
- Audio-only player interface
- ID3 metadata tag support
- JavaScript API for basic player control and automated workflow integration
- Stream playback analytics
- Q: What on-screen controls are available?
-
A: For a detailed description of operation and controls, please see the Wowza Player support articles.
- The Wowza Player includes on-screen controls for the following:
- Play/pause
- Quick rewind
- Volume/mute
- Full screen
- Bitrate selector
- Q: Are keyboard controls available in Wowza Player?
-
A: Yes. For a detailed description of operation and controls, please see the Wowza Player support articles.
Wowza Player includes keyboard control functionality, including:
- Play/pause
- Increase/decrease volume
- Rewind/fast-forward
- Mute on/off
- Full screen on/off
- Seek—percentage skip-ahead
- Q: Are there any features not available when using the player on a mobile device?
-
- Volume is adjusted by means of the device hardware controls, rather than through the on-screen UI.
- iPhones and iPods will always render Wowza Player full-screen (iPads will play in-line).
- Troubleshooting Common Issues
-
- Problem: Video Player doesn’t appear.
-
Things to check:
- Check the links to assets:
- Is the link to wowzaplayer.min.js correct?
- Container DIV:
- Is it in the page? Is it visible?
- Is it big enough?
- Configuration JSON:
- Is the JSON well-formed? Is there a missing/trailing comma?
- Are parts of it accidentally commented out?
- Check the links to assets:
- Problem: “Stream unavailable” is displayed on the player window.
-
Things to check:
- Check the errors in Console: Security errors (ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR).
- Cause:
- On Web pages served from “https”, the Javascript player can only stream from “https” media streams.
- Trying to load a playlist that redirects to a new URL. This is not a supported feature.
- Trying to load a non-HLS Stream (Wowza Player only plays HLS URLs, which are coming from WSE or WSC).
- Flash Player is sandboxed and does not report the browser security errors.
- Solutions:
- Enable SSL on the Wowza source and stream from an “https” URL.
- Serve the web page from “http.”
- Force the Flash Player (useFlash: true).
- Cause:
- Check the errors in Console: Security errors (ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR).
- Problem: “Stream unavailable” is displayed on the player window.
-
Things to check:
- Check the Console log: CORS errors when loading a stream.
- Cause:
- Older Wowza instances (< 4.5v) did not enable Cross-Origin headers by default for HLS streams.
- Solutions:
- Upgrade to Wowza Streaming Engine (WSE) >= 4.5v
- Enable CORS headers for HLS streams.
- Cause:
- Check the Console log: CORS errors when loading a stream.
- Problem : “Media decode error” is displayed on the player window.
- Cause:
- If the Media decode error happens in the beginning of playback, then the browser doesn’t support a particular encoding. Check the video and audio formats supported by your browser.
- Solutions:
- Use the encoding format supported by your browser.
- Force the Flash Player.
- Cause:
- If the Media decode error happens during the playback, then it may be a known bug.
- Solutions:
- Make sure you are using the latest version of the Wowza Player.
- Check the list of known issues on Wowza Player and file a support ticket.
