Wowza Player

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).

For additional information, contact sales@wowza.com.

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.

For additional information, contact sales@wowza.com.

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?

• Auto-play is not currently supported wihen viewing 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).

For additional information, contact sales@wowza.com.

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?

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.

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).

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.

For additional information, contact sales@wowza.com.