No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where an annotation's exit animation (fade or slide-up) disappeared instantly instead of animating out in published and embedded players.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [Adobe Analytics] A new bcAaWebSdk packaged plugin sends player events to Adobe Analytics via the Adobe Experience Platform Web SDK.

Brightcove Adobe Analytics (Web SDK) Plugin

The new bcAaWebSdk packaged plugin sends Brightcove Player events to Adobe Analytics using the Adobe Experience Platform Web SDK (alloy.js).

Options: eventsToTrack and paramsToTrack map player events and dimensions to Adobe variables, datastreamId and orgId let the plugin configure alloy (omit them if the page already does), and instanceName selects the alloy global (default alloy).

player.bcAaWebSdk({
  datastreamId: '<YOUR_DATASTREAM_ID>',
  orgId: '<YOUR_ORG_ID>@AdobeOrg',
  instanceName: 'alloy', // optional; default 'alloy'
  eventsToTrack: { bcvideo_player_load: 'event10', bcvideo_video_engagement: 'event11' },
  paramsToTrack: { bcvideo_player_name: 'prop2', bcvideo_account: 'prop3' }
});

To enable it, add it to the player configuration as a packaged plugin:

{ "name": "bcAaWebSdk", "is_packaged": true, "options": {...} }

Fixes

• [Playlist] Playlist items are now exposed to assistive technology as enumerated buttons, so screen reader users hear each item's position and can activate it directly.
• [Recommendation Endscreen] Fix an issue where recommendation card titles could be cut off at small player sizes and high browser zoom levels.
• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where variable values written with setVariables were not persisted, so annotations reading them later could see stale values.
• Fix an issue where viewers could not pinch-zoom hosted player pages on touch devices.
• Fix an issue where hosted player pages had a generic page title; the title is now populated from the player name.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Analytics] Fix an issue where analytics could stop reporting after a source or rendition change, causing a tracking event to fail.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [Video Poster] A new lockRendition option pins the video preview to a single rendition for its full duration, so the preview plays at a consistent quality instead of adapting up and down as network conditions change.

Locking the video preview rendition

Set lockRendition: true alongside initialBandwidth to hold the preview on the rendition chosen by initialBandwidth and disable adaptive bitrate switching for the preview. If no rendition fits within initialBandwidth, the preview uses the lowest available rendition. The option defaults to false (adaptive selection, seeded by initialBandwidth) and has no effect unless initialBandwidth is set.

{
  "plugins": [{
    "name": "videoPoster",
    "options": {
      "lockRendition": true,
      "initialBandwidth": 3000000
    }
  }]
}

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where interactive overlays could fail to initialize on iOS 26 when the page referrer was empty.
• [Analytics] Fix an issue where, on pages with more than one player, disposing a player could affect analytics tracking on the others.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [Catalog] The poster image now updates to match the selected language variant when the viewer switches languages or setLanguage() is called.

Fixes

• [Captions] Fix an issue where WebVTT caption files could be mis-detected as MPEG-TS streams, preventing captions from loading.
• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where annotations could render too small in vertical (portrait) video formats.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [SSAI] Fix an issue where ad impression beacons could fire twice on live streams.
• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where an incomplete quiz annotation could cause interactive playback to fail.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where clickable annotations — including buttons in custom overlays and hotspot links — could be intermittently unresponsive until the viewer resized the player window.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [SSAI] Add support for Live 2.0 SSAI prerolls.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Improve rendering parity between text annotations in the editor preview and the published player:
  • Fix an issue where slide-up and fade-in entrance animations would render without animating (appearing instantly) in the published player.
  • Fix an issue where border-radius styling on text annotations could fail to apply, causing the annotation to render with square corners.
  • Fix an issue where text annotation boxes could render wider than their text content. The box now shrinks to fit its content.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Fix an issue where, after a viewer submitted a quiz with "Pause video when quiz appears" disabled, the player would override their pause action and resume playback.
• [Interactivity] Fix a brief visual flash when re-entering a gated quiz that had previously been completed.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Recommendation Endscreen] Fix an issue in firstVideo mode where the recommendation anchor and exclusion history were retained when a new video was loaded outside of the endscreen flow, causing subsequent recommendations to be based on stale context.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Properly render annotations with custom classes provided with either comma or space delimiters in Interactivity Studio
• [Interactivity] Ensure border color is applied to text annotation overlays
• [SSAI] Forward vendor and verificationParameters for Live 2.0 Open Measurement API
• [DRM] Fix an issue with Widevine-protected HLS live streams where HDCP fallback failed when an HDCP-incapable display is connected to the playback device.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Analytics] Fixed a phantom video_view event being sent on Safari when autoplay is rejected.
• [Pinning] Fixed interactivity CSS overriding the pinned player position.
• [Social] Fixed the title bar visibility state not being preserved when toggling the social sharing modal.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Improve support for Interactivity chapter menu features.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.42.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Chromecast] Update "Cast" button so it becomes visible in newer Chrome browsers.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [Animated Thumbnails]

  • Add preveiwDuration option. This option accepts an integer value of 1 - 10 inclusive and controls the duration of the preview video. Default value is 10.
  • Add initialBandwidth option. Allow users to override the initial bandwidth calculation for Media Source Extensions (non-native streaming) playback. Default is 3Mbps which corresponds to ~720p for a standard Brightcove ingest profile. Setting the value to 0 will enable default ABR behaviour and the playback engine will typically select the lowest quality available rendition.
  • These options can be set by modifying the JSON configuration in the Players module of Videocloud Studio:

  {
    ...
    "plugins": [
      {
        "name": "videoPoster",
        "is_packaged": true,
        "options": {
          "preveiwDuration": 10,
          "initialBandwidth": 1000000
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improved support for oembed and opengraph

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [IMA3] Fixed a crash caused by third-party scripts (e.g., ad verification) that interfered with detecting whether the IMA SDK is fully loaded.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.41.6

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Analytics] Fixed engagement events not being sent in an edge case involving recommendations.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Improved responsiveness.
• [SSAI] Fixed SSAI ad countdown reaching zero before slate content finishes on live streams.
• [PLAYBACK] Fixed live DVR streams starting further behind the live edge than intended when using EXT-X-START with a negative time offset.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Added option to disable recommendations during Picture-in-Picture mode.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Enable auto-play of recommendations before video completion.

Fixes

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Fix compatibility with ads.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Improved tracking for recommendation impressions; test recommendation can now appear in the Studio Players module's preview player.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [RecommendationEndscreen] Fixed UI issues in the recommendations overlay.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add new Recommendation Endscreen packaged plugin. More information about packaged plugins can be found here.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.40.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Adds new beaconing events to support improved analytics:
  • video_replay
  • captions_enabled
  • captions_disabled
  • audio_track_selected

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Fixes a problem that caused some sign-in widgets to not display.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [IMA3] Fixed playback jumping back to the beginning after a midroll ad (on Safari in iPhone).

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [IMA-DAI] Fixed progress behavior when scrubbing past a midroll.
• [SSAI] Fixed player stall when clicking "skip ad".

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add new Freewheel packaged plugin. This is a new plugin and explicit player configuration will be needed in order to start using the new plugin. Existing configurations using the legacy videojs-freewheel plugin will continue to function as before. Documentation for the new plugin, including configuration options is located here. Documentation for videojs-freewheel has been moved to Advertising with the Legacy FreeWheel Plugin

  • Notable changes from videojs-freewheel plugin:
    • A "Skip Ad" button will appear if a skippable ad is delivered by the ad server
    • Baseline AdManager SDK is v7.2.0 This supports Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) implementing the TCF v2 framework out of the box, with no plugin configuration required. CMPs implementing TCF v1 are no longer supported. More information in Freewheel's documentation (Freewheel Hub login required)
    • Fixed an issue where iOS Safari >= 18.0 would not play ads if crossorigin attribute is present.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improved support for SSAI with Brightcove Live streams

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improved UI during Live SSAI ad breaks:
  • Improved placement of Number of Ads Remaining and Ad Break Time Remaining indicators.
  • "Learn More" link no longer suppressed when "Show ad break remaining time" is set false
  • Countdown indicator is only shown if "Show ad break remaining time" is set true
  • Number of Ads Remaining indicator no longer hidden when "Show ad break remaining time" and "Show ad remaining time" are both set true

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Improve logic for validation of free-text response in quizzes: if no correct answer is provided, anything is considered correct; if a correct answer is provided, than the given answer is matched to it (case-insensitive, ignoring leading and trailing spaces)

Maintenance

• Add support for upcoming features

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.37.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Maintenance

• Add support for upcoming features

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Maintenance

• Add support for upcoming features

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [DRM] Improve startup time of Fairplay protected streams that require multiple keys

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.36.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• [Interactivity] Remove Interactivity v1 from the packaged plugin

Fixes

• [DRM] Prevent incorrect source selection when multiple DRM keysytems are used with HLS sources
• [DRM] Fix Fairplay workflow selection, ensure standard EME workflow cannot be activated with Videocloud Fairplay protected sources.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improve handling of HLS sources with multiple DRM configs

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.35.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [Interactivity] Improve analytics to report missing information.

Maintainance

• Add support for upcoming features

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• [DRM] Fix an issue where players streaming content using the com.apple.fps.1_0 key system encountered an error when reinitialized after a call to player.dispose()
• [IMA3] Prevent the occurence of autoplay rejection of some midroll ads.
• [IMA3] Improve autoadvance behaviour of playlists with IMA3 preroll ads. Playlists should now more reliably autoadvance if an adserror event is encountered while the player is in BEFOREPREROLL state

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.34.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Additional control over whether to auto-initialize plugins. Until now, all plugins built into a player's configuration are auto-initialized with the player. In order to provide a greater level of control, the Brightcove Player now supports an additional, plugin-level config option: auto_init, which defaults to true. If set to false, the plugin will still be included with the player but must be initialized with an additional, external call.

For example, if a player includes the IMA3 plugin with:

{
  "name": "ima3",
  "is_packaged": true,
  "auto_init": false,
  "options": {
    "timeout": 4000
  }
}

Then, the plugin must be initialized with player.ima3({...settings}) before it can be used.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.33.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Adds interactivity-viewer as a packaged plugin. More information about packaged plugins can be found here.

Fixes

• [Chromecast-Sender] Resolves an issue that caused a playback error when attempting to resume casting after disconnecting.
• [IMA3] Playlists will now autoadvance as expected, even if the upcoming playlist item was expecting a preroll, but received an empty ad response.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.32.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix a styling issue that prevented clickable ads from working as expected while ad-stitched content is playing through the IMA-DAI integration.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improve accessibility of the quality selector menu by removing redundant control text
• In the text track control modal, the control text for "Reset" and "Done" buttons has been updated, so each have distinct and meaningful control text.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.32.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Normalize defaults for disable_seeking_while_scrubbing_on_mobile and disable_seeking_while_scrubbing_on_stv. Now both options default to true, when previously disable_seeking_while_scrubbing_on_stv defaulted to false

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Improved scrubbing experience on Mobile and Smart TV can be enabled with the options

"plugins": [
  {
    "name": "thumbnails",
    "is_packaged": true
  }
],
"disable_seeking_while_scrubbing_on_mobile": true,
"disable_seeking_while_scrubbing_on_stv": true

• Text Tracks on the player are now serializable

JSON.stringify(player.textTracks());

Fixes

• Address an issue on iOS browsers where IMA3 would skip the playhead forward and miss some starting content before beginning playback after a preroll ad has played.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.31.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Chromecast Sender: Improved support for casting live content with a DVR window (requires Chromecast Receiver >= v4.1.0).

When casting live content with a DVR window the web-player sender will display a progress bar that can be used to control the playhead position on the receiver (similar to the VOD user experience). By default, the information used to update the sender progress bar is updated twice a second, via a message from the receiver. The frequency of these updates can be controlled with the plugin configuration option liveUpdateThrottle, e.g.:

{
  "name": "chromecastSender",
  "is_packaged": true,
  "options": {
    "liveUpdateThrottle": 1000
  }
}

The number value is the minimum time to wait between messages, in milliseconds. The above value will send an update about once a second. A smaller value will produce faster updates but may impact performance on the receiver device.

Fixes

• SSAI: Correct overlay UI is shown when a VOD with pre-roll and post-roll ads loops.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.30.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Use object-fit CSS property to improve ABR.
• Enable use of networkInformation API for bandwidth calculations by default.

Fixes

• Set mode property to hidden on native text tracks. This fixes an issue where cuechange events were not being triggered and cues were occasionally missing.
• Fix an issue where playback was failing due to overlaps in video and audio in playlists.
• Fix an issue where some non-DVR livestreams would not play at the live edge.
• Hide tooltip on touch devices when not scrubbing.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fixes an issue where content occasionally plays in the background during IMA ads.

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.29.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for livePlaybackToken
  • configuration options
    • html attribute: data-live-playback-token="..."
    • query parameter (iframe embeds only): ?livePlaybackToken=...
    • player configuration:

    {
      ...
      video_cloud: {
        ...
        live_playback_token: "..."
      }
    }
    

  • set with catalog method: player.catalog.setLivePlaybackToken('...');

Fixes

• Player features implemented as packaged plugins will now report their version to be the same as the current player version. This will be reflected in plugin.VERSION or calls to plugin.version() (whichever the legacy standalone plugin supported). The change is also reflected in the player information modal under the "Player Plugins" heading.
• The above change fixes an issue with IMA3 configurations that used autoplay as a boolean flag, which resulted in the player being visually hidden after a preroll.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where LLHLS content results in MEDIA_ERR_DECODE errors in iOS
• Fix an issue where content sometimes plays behind midroll ads in IMA3

Package updates

• Internal packaged plugin additions and updates.
• Update to Video.js v8.21.1

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.27.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where using the SSAI plugin was causing crashes.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for MP4-encapsulated WebVTT

Fixes

• Fix an issue where live playback would not start from the live edge
• Fix an issue where playback sometimes skips back in the stream when switching quality levels
• Fix a crossorigin issue with Safari 18 HTMLMediaElement

Package updates

• Update to Video.js v8.20.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• A Safari 18 iOS HTMLMediaElement crossorigin property issue.
• An issue with plugin initialization syntax.

Package updates

• Internal packaged plugin additions and updates.
• Update to Video.js v8.19.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Analytics shows that autoplay is successful when a playlist auto-advances.
• Ensure language property on text tracks from DASH assets are accurate.

Features

• Add an option to suppress the Safari 18 view mode.

"suppress_view_modes": {
  "safari_viewer_mode": boolean,
  "picture_in_picture_mode": boolean
}

• Add Airplay support when overriding native HLS in Safari and/or IOS.
• Support for Safari ManagedMediaSource startstreaming and endstream events.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Increased resilience to some audio timing issues in HLS
• Fix outstream mode for newer Android devices
• Small fixes to the quality menu: improving icons, hiding menu during ad playback and addressed an issue where loadedmetdata sometimes did not fire

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.24.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix issue where captions would not be displayed on older versions of Chrome
• Retain expected player height during initialization for audio-only media
• Fix DASH issue where playback stalls when audio and video segments are on different timelines

Features

• Support new EME/DRM options for all sources via the player configuration JSON
• Add support for limiting license-renewals while player is idle when using short duration licenses with HDCP fallback

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.23.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix issues where engagement beacons are not sent for audio-only with byte range support

Features

• Add support for a new viewability option pause_on_blur to toggle playback based on page focus or blur

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.22.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where quality switching is not stable

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.17.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where the control bar is not keyboard accessible

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.16.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Change Twitter logo to X logo

Fixes

• Fix an issue where viewerID is not set for Hubspot integration
• Internal maintenance

Package updates

• Update to Video.js v8.16.0

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.21.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Internal plugin fixes and maintenence

Package updates

• Update to Video.js v8.14.1

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.20.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.18.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Improve handling of Content-Type header for linked plugins

Package updates

• Update to Video.js v8.12.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Validate header data for remote files
• Identify multiple thumbnail labels on text tracks
• Improve Marketo domain level configuration

Fixes

• Expand autoplay conditions when used with IMA3
• Resolve several deprecation warnings
• Improve DRM prioritization

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.11.8
• Update to videojs-contrib-eme v5.2.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where ad data is not passed through to ad_error beacon

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.17.2

All unlocked players have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.17.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where some segments would repeat
• Fix an issue where ad_error analytics beacon is not emitted

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.11.5
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.11.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Revert the fix of an issue where some segments would repeat because of potential regression for playlist updates with a gap

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.11.4
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.11.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where the error modal would not display
• Fix an issue where some segments would repeat
• Fix an issue where changeType was called on every codec change

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.11.2
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.11.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Improved Picture in Picture plugin integration
• Improved errors interface

Fixes

• Smart TV user agents correctly identified
• Playready CDM message data passthrough
• Title and description display issue

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.11.1
• Update to @videojs/videojs-contrib-eme v3.11.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for VTT cue rollover

Fixes

• Errors no longer thrown when SSAI plugin is used with live content

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.10.0
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.10.0

All unlocked v7 players have been updated to this version and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.15.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for optional smooth seeking

Fixes

• Fix skip-forward button accessibility issue
• Fix Salesforce, Marketo, and Hubspot integrations
• Fix and standardize control bar inactivity behavior on mobile devices

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.9.0
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.9.1

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.14.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Improved support for streams containing renditions with rollover and renditions without rollover
• Improved fast quality switching
• Added a new sync strategy based on media-sequence for rendition switching
• Added unique user ID detection

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue with vertical aspect ratio player sizing
• Fix an issue where captions were displaying automatically despite being disabled

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Sapphire menu CSS.
• Errors from remaining Flash references.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Initial implementation for HLS and DASH content steering.

Fixes

• Fixes an issue where captions were not being parsed correctly.
• Fixes an issue where certain languages in 708 captions were not displaying correctly.
• Fixes an issue where there is an occassional buffer when switching between media tracks.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.6.1
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming v3.7.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where content after bumper videos does not autoplay

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.13.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue when the player starts buffering when encounters segments with corrupted PTS/DTS timestamps during discontinuities (fix is available via feature toggle: calculateTimestampOffsetForEachSegment)

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.13.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue that occasionally allowed GSC limits to be bypassed when the player was in a specific point in it's lifecyle.

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.13.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where generic stream concurrency was not working with Brightcove Player 7

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with transcript downloads

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates
• Update to Video.js v8.5.3

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.13.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Improved fast quality switching

Fixes

• Fix an issue with bumper on iOS (Chrome and Safari)

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.5.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where segment dateTimeObject property was unavailable
• Fix an issue where dateRange tags with the same IDs were being overwritten

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.5.2

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.12.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for live 608 caption positioning
• Add support for EXT-X-DATERANGES

Fixes

• Fix an issue where GSC heartbeat interval was never cleared when playback was terminated on a 4xx error response
• Internal maintenance updates

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.67.7

Player 6 Deprecation

This is the final release of version 6 of the Brightcove Player. All future support and development will be focused on version 7 and beyond. Version 7 is the default for all new players, and for information on upgrading your existing version 6 players, please visit our support documentation.

Your existing version 6 players will continue functioning as normal for the foreseeable future, but we will no longer be releasing fixes and updates to player versions earlier than the latest release of Brightcove Player 7.

Please note that custom plugins may need to be updated to support the API changes in the player across major versions, but most plugins are expected to work without any changes.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where GSC heartbeat interval was never cleared when playback was terminated on a 4xx error response
• Internal maintenance changes

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 7.11.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue with inlining remote scripts and stylesheets

All unlocked v7 players have been updated to this version and published.

See changes in 7.11.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue related to generic stream concurrency behavior when the player encounters a playback error

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where a user query string parameter was not recognized for iframe embeds

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix to improve the accuracy of rebuffering_seconds that is sent on video engagements.

All unlocked v7 players have been updated to this version and published.

See changes in 7.10.0

All unlocked v6 players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.67.5

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Added a new viewability configuration to allow the player to automatically pause when it is moved into a background tab and resume when the tab becomes active again.

  To enable this feature in your player's JSON configuration, you'll want to add the "pause_in_background_tab": true property to your viewability object (create one if you don't have it already).

  "viewability": {
    "pause_in_background_tab": true
  }
  

  Note that this is distinct from the pause_when_not_viewable configuration!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed occasional MEDIA_ERR_DECODE errors for low latency streams
• Fixed a case of incorrect start time calculations when using the IMA3 plugin
• Fixed an issue where the video download button would download via HTTP instead of HTTPS

Package Updates

• Upgraded Video.js to 8.4.0
• Upgraded Video.js HTTP Streaming to 3.4.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fixes an analytics issue with play events in ad mode.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where http-streaming XHR onRequest hooks were called too late

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.3.1

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 7.8.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• VHS: Adds xhr request and response hooks via an onRequest(callback) and onResponse(callback) API (Full documentation)
• VHS: Use of EXT-X-START is now supported.

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.3.0

All unlocked v7 players have been updated to this version and published.

See changes in 7.7.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add VHS support for useForcedSubtitles option to access forced subtitles when available.
• Add VHS support for EventStream.

Fixes

• Fix a regression that caused the context_menu option to not work when set to false.
• Fix to remove support for t and captions query params for in-page players.
• Fix for correct fallback when specific language metadata is not found.
• Fix to improve the accuracy of rebuffering_seconds that is sent on video engagements.
• Fix to prevent layout shift on Firefox caused by ad block detection.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.3.0
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.2.0

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.67.3

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.67.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Allow control_bar to be set in the player configuration.

Fixes

• Fix an issue in Safari where the video was not replaying successfully.
• Fix inaccurate Japanese translations.
• Fix translations for language regarding the skip button.
• Fix to improve the rebuffering_count attribute sent in video engagements.
• Fix to allow the VHS enableLowInitialPlaylist option to be set to false in the player configuration on Android.
• Fix to allow iOS Edge browser support in the Brightcove Player.
• Fix for incompatibility between the pause_when_not_viewable and delay_autoplay_if_not_viewable player configuration options.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v8.2.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue in Safari where the video was not replaying successfully.
• Fix inaccurate Japanese translations.

Package Updates

• Upgrade to video.js 7.21.4

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.67.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Engagement beacons now include QoE metrics from HLS manifests.
• Optional skip forward and backward buttons.
• Add VHS support for emsg supplied ID3 tags.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Enable the download of MP4 files or text transcripts with the download_button option.

Fixes

• Fix play_request event beacon emission when a preroll ad fails.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix CMAF HLS race condition issue during quality change that crashes the player.

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.0.2
• Update to Video.js v8.1.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix CMAF HLS race condition issue during quality change that crashes the player.

Package Updates

• Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.16.2
• Upgrade to video.js 7.21.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Enable an opt-in for QOE metrics for remote assets in Safari with the native_qoe option.
• Added the ability to set viewer analytics user via query parameter in a player URL.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where live DASH multiperiod streams failed when a <Label> was introduced to the manifest.
• Fix a styling issue with menu items.

Package Updates

• Update to @videojs/http-streaming 3.0.1
• Update to Video.js v8.1.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where live DASH multiperiod streams failed when a <Label> was introduced to the manifest.

Package Updates

• Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.16.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where captions do not work on iOS Chrome browser

Package Updates

• Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.16.0
• Upgrade to video.js 7.21.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add a new player.catalog.isCurrentSourceBumper() method that returns true if the current source is a bumper video loaded from the Brightcove Catalog.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where Generic Stream Concurrency sessions would not be cleared when a player was disposed
• Fix an issue where fallback to server-side ads would not work in Safari
• Fix an issue where captions were not visible in iOS Chrome

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add a new player.catalog.isCurrentSourceBumper() method that returns true if the current source is a bumper video loaded from the Brightcove Catalog.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an outstanding issue where the title and description would not show on the player when the dock config property was set to true
• Fix an issue where live DRM content would not play

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add boolean title_bar config property to show the title and description specified in Studio. This replaces the deprecated dock property.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where title and description would not show on the player when the dock config property was set to true
• Fix an error that would occur when using the quality selector menu

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 8.0.3

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.66.8

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.8

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where live DASH would time out after prolonged playback

Package Updates

• Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.15.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Brightcove Player 7

The first official version of Brightcove Player 7 is here!

In previous release candidates, we published a running list of migration notes and additional information, but now that it's official, please refer to our support documentation, Brightcove Player 7 Migration Guide.

Further reading will be available on the Brightcove blog and, for Video.js 8 and VHS 3, you can check out the Video.js website for a blog post.

A summary of significant changes in Player 7 follows; for details, again, refer to the Brightcove Player 7 Migration Guide.

• Upgraded to Video.js 8 and Video.js HTTP Streaming 3
• Converted everything to ES6 by default
• Internet Explorer no longer supported
• Added unsupported browser UI
• Improved adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithm
• Added viewability events and behaviors
• Added DRM support by default; no plugin necessary
• Enhanced timeout experience to suggest reloading the video source
• Added brightcove namespace attached to every player instance
• Changed analytics player events from analytics_request to analytics-beacon for better alignment with conventions
• For more, refer to the Brightcove Player 7 Migration Guide

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.66.7

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.7

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where DRM content would fail to play in Chrome or Firefox due to Fairplay being selected instead of Widevine

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.66.6

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.6

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

NOTE: There is currently an issue with v7.0.0-2 that renders most Brightcove Player plugins incompatible. These incompatibilities are being addressed and we intend to have fully compatible versions of all plugins available on launch of v7.0.0!

Also, the new Title Bar is not correctly populated in this version, but will be in the next pre-release.

Brightcove Player 7 is coming!

For additional details about the changes coming in Brightcove Player 7, please refer to the release notes for Brightcove Player 7.0.0-0

All Changes in This Release

There will be additional notes on Video.js 8.0.0 and Video.js HTTP Streaming 3.0.0 changes in those projects' release notes when they are finalized. The notes here focus mainly on Brightcove Player changes.

• NEW: Added new player viewability and configurable behaviors like delaying autoplay and toggling playback.
• NEW: Added DRM support by default - no plugin necessary!
• NEW: Enhanced timeout errors to allow reloading the media source through a UI button.
• NEW: Added brightcove namespace on the player for future expansion and consolidation of Brightcove-specific player integrations.
• NEW: The Video.js sourceset event is now triggered by default.
• Switched to new ABR algorithm.
• Updated build tooling output to target modern browsers.
• Added a specific error-like UI for unsupported browsers (e.g. IE11).
• Refactored inactive player code.
• Miscellaneous internal code changes and maintenance.
• BREAKING: Send play_request once per media source on the first playback request (MN1)
• BREAKING: Removed the "graphite" skin (MN2)
• BREAKING: Changed not-hover class name to vjs-hide-controls (MN3)
• BREAKING: Remove IE11 support (MN4)
• BREAKING: Remove legacy Flash support (MN4)
• NEW, BREAKING: ES6 by default (MN5)
• NEW, BREAKING: Naming of analytics events changed from analytics_request to analytics-beacon (MN6)
• NEW, BREAKING: Title Bar component added, replacing the so-called "dock" component (MN7)
• NEW, BREAKING: The autoplay and t parameters in a web page with an in-page embedded Brightcove Player will no longer be recognized (MN8)
• NEW, BREAKING: Legacy playlist configurations are no longer supported (MN9)
• NEW, BREAKING: The firstplay event is no longer fired (MN10)
• NEW, BREAKING: The videojs.extend() function no longer exists (MN11)

Migration Notes

More complete migration notes and documentation for new features will be available upon full release of v7.0.0.

MN1

Sending the play_request event to the Data Collection API will occur only once for each new media source. Previously, the play_request was sent each time playback was requested; whether the initial user request or autoplay or resuming from pause.

This change makes the play_request event more meaningful - particularly in understanding the impact of autoplay - in Brightcove Analytics and aligns the Brightcove Player with our SDKs.

Adjust your expectations on the frequency of this event. Any code that assumes it will occur with any playback request should probably use the play event instead.

MN2

The "graphite" skin was an older style skin that was a holdover from the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player. It is removed.

No migration needed: "skin": "graphite" in a player configuration will simply be ignored.

This configuration may still be used to disable the default skin using "skin": false. This advanced capability is for customers who want to write their own player skin from scratch. All other values will be treated as the default skin (which will be the equivalent of "skin": "sapphire" in 6.x).

MN3

The not-hover class name was added in the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player 6.x to indicate when the controls should hide.

This class is replaced by vjs-hide-controls, which is more descriptive and better matches Video.js naming conventions.

Change any uses of .not-hover to .vjs-hide-controls in your stylesheets or scripts.

MN4

IE11 and Flash will no longer function with the Brightcove Player. No migration is needed.

MN5

Most of Brightcove Player 7 is no longer transpiled into ES5 code - including Video.js and VHS. Most code is now transpiled to target modern browser engines.

Code that attempts to inherit native ES6 classes, but is ultimately transpiled to ES5 will no longer work with Video.js 8 and Brightcove Player 7. This incompatibility will generally be surfaced by an error being thrown with a message like:

TypeError: Class constructor ___ cannot be invoked without 'new'

This is because transpilation tools like Babel will convert classes into plain JavaScript functions and attempt to call apply() or call() on them. These methods exist on functions, but not ES6 classes.

The only solution is to not transpile ES6 classes to ES5 for use with Video.js 8 and Brightcove Player 7.

MN6

Prior to 7, the Player would trigger analytics_request events and analytics_request_* events where * stood for the analytics beacon event name. For example, when the player sent a beacon representing a video_engagement event, the player would trigger both analytics_request and analytics_request_video_engagement.

In general, we want to be consistent in our naming and, for events, this means (most of the time) that we want lower-case-hyphenated event names. Further, when we discuss the small HTTP requests we send to our Data Collection API, we tend to refer to them as “beacons”, so we are using that terminology as well.

We’ve renamed these events to be analytics-beacon and analytics-beacon-* where the * stands for the analytics beacon event name with _ replaced by -.

For example, if you wanted to know when the player sent a video_engagement event beacon, you could do something like this:

player.on('analytics-beacon-video-engagement', (e) => {
  // The event object in the callback contains a `params` object, which
  // has a JavaScript object representataion of the query params that
  // were sent to the Data Collection API.
  player.log('video_engagement beacon sent!', e.params);
});

MN7

Migration necessary only if integration code interacts with the player “dock” components. This is unlikely to impact the vast majority of Brightcove customers!

We removed the internal videojs-dock plugin and re-implemented similar functionality in a new core component for Video.js: the TitleBar component.

The new TitleBar component will show a UI element across the top of the player which displays the title and/or description of the current media in the player. The TitleBar will not show if no title or description is provided.

Brightcove Player 7 will populate the title bar using data from the Playback API.

MN8

Brightcove Player 7 when embedded in-page no longer recognizes the autoplay query parameter or t query parameter (or any other query parameter for that matter).

Query parameters are an ideal way to provide data at the embed code level for iframe embeds, but for in-page embeds, they would need to exist in the embedding website’s URL.

These two parameters were previously supported because older versions of Internet Explorer required workarounds for the Fullscreen API, which was not adequately supported. However, they caused several customers some confusion when their own web page URLs included these parameters, generally for other purposes, but they impacted the behavior of the their embedded Brightcove Player!

If you were relying on this support in some way, we recommend switching to the autoplay attribute, option, or player configuration or the data-start-time attribute for your in-page embeds - or implementing this functionality via JavaScript.

MN9

Migration necessary if using legacy playlist implementations, controlled by top-level JSON configurations - i.e. not through Studio or the plugins array in JSON configuration.

With the earlier Player versions, there were multiple legacy playlist plugins/implementations and methods of configuration. Maintaining multiple playlist implementations caused a significant amount of confusion and complexity, so we’ve simplified and clarified playlist implementation by removing all the legacy playlist code.

In short, all top-level playlist-related configurations are no longer supported in JSON configuration for Brightcove Player 7.

These include:

• autoadvance
• media (as an array being interpreted as a playlist)
• playlist
• repeat

The top-level playlist configuration could be used in two ways:

• Using true to turn on the legacy playlist UI (videojs-playlist-ui)
• Using false to turn off the playlist API (videojs-playlist)

However, it had no impact on the modern Brightcove Playlist UI plugin that people use today in the Studio.

The migration path for playlists is to always use the Brightcove Playlist UI plugin, which is configurable through Studio (or the Player Management API). The old top-level configurations have never been exposed through Studio.

MN10

Migration necessary if currently using the firstplay event.

The firstplay event was removed. This was a deprecated, legacy event that was fired by Video.js the first time a play event was fired. However, there’s a better way to hook into the first play event for a given media source, using the one() method:

// Each time the source is about to change, listen for the first play event.
// Listening for loadstart is another option.
player.on('sourceset', () => {
  player.one('play', callback);
});

MN11

Migration necessary if currently using this function to extend Video.js classes.

The extend() function was previously used to extend Video.js components and advanced plugins.

We are now using native ES6 classes everywhere and the old videojs.extend() function only works with plain function prototypes, making it unusable with the native ES6 classes that make up Video.js 8. So, it has been removed.

For example, the old way to create a component using extend() was:

const Component = videojs.getComponent('Component');

const MyComponent = videojs.extend(Component, {
  constructor: function(player, options) {
    Component.call(this, player, options);
  }
});

videojs.registerComponent('MyComponent', MyComponent);

Going forward, only ES6 classes are supported. The equivalent would be:

const Component = videojs.getComponent('Component');

class MyComponent extends Component {
  constructor(player, options) {
    super(player, options);
  }
}

videojs.registerComponent('MyComponent', MyComponent);

Users whose integration code depends on videojs.extend() will need to update their implementations before updating to Brightcove Player 7.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue in iOS Safari where the player would continue to play in the background
• Fix an issue where in-manifest captions were not displayed correctly

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.20.3

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.5

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where HDCP fallback causes timeouts
• Fix playback issues for players not using Video Cloud
• Fix an issue with deep linking on iOS
• Fix an error with players using v2 of the Playlist Plugin

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.66.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Package Updates

• The update includes support to accept data-controls attribute as an alternate to the controls attribute in iframe embeds

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where the bumper video's title and description were displayed along with the main video's poster

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.66.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Package Updates

• Internal maintenance updates

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for bumper videos

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.65.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix analytics plugin error when certain controls are disabled
• Fix issue where player would not pass deliveryConfigId and adConfigId parameters with Playback API requests in some circumstances

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.20.1

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.65.3

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.65.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix issue where Generic Stream Concurrency would not work if a source was not requested from the Playback API using Player Catalog methods

Package Updates

• Update default version of vtt.js from 0.12.5 to 0.15.3

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.65.1

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.65.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for Audio Only Mode
• Add support for manifests with a short TTL
• Add support for Generic Stream Concurrency with Chromecast

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix CSS conflict between audio only mode and fluid mode
• Refresh manifests with short TTLs on source changes instead of play events

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.64.3

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.64.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Enhancements

• Accept numbers in addition to strings setUser calls in player analytics

Fixes

• Improve identification of streams as encrypted HLS instead of standard HLS
• Fix filtering of source lists coming from the Video Cloud catalog to prefer HEVC sources where supported.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.18.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

NOTE: There is currently an issue in the Studio Players module where it detects a 7.x player as incompatible with Studio. The effect of this is that it is possible to set a player to 7.x in the Studio, but this renders it uneditable in Studio.

This issue is actively being investigated and will be addressed soon!

Brightcove Player 7 is coming!

For additional details about the changes coming in Brightcove Player 7, please refer to the release notes for Brightcove Player 7.0.0-0

All Changes in This Release

• Switched to new ABR algorithm.
• Updated build tooling output to target modern browsers.
• Added a specific error-like UI for unsupported browsers (e.g. IE11).
• Refactored inactive player code.
• ONGOING: Miscellaneous internal code changes and maintenance.
• BREAKING: Send play_request once per media source on the first playback request (MN1)
• BREAKING: Removed the "graphite" skin (MN2)
• BREAKING: Changed not-hover class name to vjs-hide-controls (MN3)
• NEW, BREAKING: Remove IE11 support (MN4)
• NEW, BREAKING: Remove legacy Flash support (MN4)

Migration Notes

MN1

Sending the play_request event to the Data Collection API will occur only once for each new media source. Previously, the play_request was sent each time playback was requested; whether the initial user request or autoplay or resuming from pause.

This change makes the play_request event more meaningful - particularly in understanding the impact of autoplay - in Brightcove Analytics and aligns the Brightcove Player with our SDKs.

Adjust your expectations on the frequency of this event. Any code that assumes it will occur with any playback request should probably use the play event instead.

MN2

The "graphite" skin was an older style skin that was a holdover from the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player. It is removed.

No migration needed: "skin": "graphite" in a player configuration will simply be ignored.

This configuration may still be used to disable the default skin using "skin": false. This advanced capability is for customers who want to write their own player skin from scratch. All other values will be treated as the default skin (which will be the equivalent of "skin": "sapphire" in 6.x).

MN3

The not-hover class name was added in the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player 6.x to indicate when the controls should hide.

This class is replaced by vjs-hide-controls, which is more descriptive and better matches Video.js naming conventions.

Change any uses of .not-hover to .vjs-hide-controls in your stylesheets or scripts.

MN4

IE11 and Flash will no longer function with the Brightcove Player

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.64.2

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Ensure GSC options are properly passed through from the player config to the plugin.

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.64.2

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.64.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Compatibility fixes for IMA3 v4.x pre-roll with Live SSAI.
• Fix an issue where blocked stream concurrency requests would not cause playback failure and enabling player config options.

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

NOTE: There is currently an issue in the Studio Players module where it detects a 7.x player as incompatible with Studio. The effect of this is that it is possible to set a player to 7.x in the Studio, but this renders it uneditable in Studio.

This issue is actively being investigated and will be addressed soon!

Brightcove Player 7 is coming!

This is the first alpha release of Brightcove Player 7.0! It's the next major version of our web player, and we are excited to share it with you.

Over the coming months, we will be releasing regular alpha releases of the Brightcove Player as we approach a 7.0 milestone. During this time, some development will continue on the 6.x line.

With each alpha release, we will update these release notes with all changes in the 7.x history. New changes will be prefixed with NEW. We will call out backward incompatible changes using the BREAKING prefix. Migration notes will be numbered and added for any BREAKING changes. These will be linked from the BREAKING text for the associated change.

Our hope is that doing this in the open will allow our customers' developers to migrate their implementations over time and be ready when the 7.0 final release goes out.

We will never automatically upgrade existing players to a new major version.

All of your published players will continue to run version 6 until you choose to upgrade your players individually. This will allow you to test any customizations and plugins, and update them in the event changes are needed. In many cases, changes won't be needed and the same code can be used in version 7 seamlessly. However, be sure to look out for the BREAKING changes in the release notes to see where you may need to make tweaks.

NOTE: Because this is an alpha release, we recommend that you do not use it in production!

Between any alpha release version, new backward incompatible changes may be introduced. Brightcove Technical Support will not be able to assist in any cases until 7.0.0 is finalized, but we want as many customers as possible to try out version 7 — feedback is always welcomed through the usual channels!

What does this mean for Brightcove Player 6?

Version 6.x of the Brightcove Player will remain fully supported until the full release of version 7.0, expected in the first half of 2022. We'll be sure to provide updates as that timeline evolves. No matter the timeline, expect your version 6 (and 5 and older) players to continue to function indefinitely. We will not be disabling existing players at any point.

Once version 7.0 has been released, 6.0 will be moved into maintenance mode, whereupon we will provide technical support and consider bug fixes on a case-by-case basis (dependent on severity and complexity for a fix) for a full 3 months. All new player enhancements and features will be delivered for version 7.x only.

Goals of 7.0

• Video.js 8 and VHS 3
• Remove support for IE11 including polyfills and transpilation targets. This version of the player will not function in IE11.
• Add a UI to be displayed on unsupported browsers.
• Enable the new and improved ABR algorithm.
• Add DRM support out of the box - no plugin required!
• Improve player timeout detection and user experience.
• Remove implicit support for autoplay and t query parameters as player options from in-page players, but allow all iframe-specific query parameters as an opt-in with user control.
• Set emulated text tracks to auto-cleanup.
• Execute a wide variety of tasks related to technical debt repayment and code refactoring.

Outcomes of 7.0

• We expect 7.0 to show a noticeable decrease in player size, mainly thanks to removals of IE11-specific code. Further, we expect there to be some performance improvements, but it is too early in this process to be more specific.
• Based on experimental A/B tests performed in the wild over the last few months, we expect the new ABR algorithm to improve the viewer experience significantly in the aggregate.
• We expect it to be slightly easier to play DRM videos. Currently, it is not always clear that users must enable DRM on the player as well as the media. With 7.0, enabling DRM protection on media will just work with the default player.
• We hope to clarify the understanding and UX of player timeouts.
• Address some other minor problems that could not be addressed without a backward incompatible change.

All Changes in This Release

• NEW: Switched to new ABR algorithm.
• NEW: Updated build tooling output to target modern browsers.
• NEW: Added a specific error-like UI for unsupported browsers (e.g. IE11).
• NEW: Refactored inactive player code.
• NEW: Miscellaneous internal code changes and maintenance.
• NEW, BREAKING: Send play_request once per media source on the first playback request (MN1)
• NEW, BREAKING: Removed the "graphite" skin (MN2)
• NEW, BREAKING: Changed not-hover class name to vjs-hide-controls (MN3)

Migration Notes

MN1

Sending the play_request event to the Data Collection API will occur only once for each new media source. Previously, the play_request was sent each time playback was requested; whether the initial user request or autoplay or resuming from pause.

This change makes the play_request event more meaningful - particularly in understanding the impact of autoplay - in Brightcove Analytics and aligns the Brightcove Player with our SDKs.

Adjust your expectations on the frequency of this event. Any code that assumes it will occur with any playback request should probably use the play event instead.

MN2

The "graphite" skin was an older style skin that was a holdover from the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player. It is removed.

No migration needed: "skin": "graphite" in a player configuration will simply be ignored.

This configuration may still be used to disable the default skin using "skin": false. This advanced capability is for customers who want to write their own player skin from scratch. All other values will be treated as the default skin (which will be the equivalent of "skin": "sapphire" in 6.x).

MN3

The not-hover class name was added in the earliest versions of the Brightcove Player 6.x to indicate when the controls should hide.

This class is replaced by vjs-hide-controls, which is more descriptive and better matches Video.js naming conventions.

Change any uses of .not-hover to .vjs-hide-controls in your stylesheets or scripts.

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.63.5

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where DRM content did not play in Safari

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.63.4

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.63.4

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix an issue where seeking within Live DVR streams would not work correctly.
• Fix the volume slider showing up on iOS.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.17.2
• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming 2.12.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Added an internal update to expand use of the player analytics module as a generalized event bus for certain analytics integration enhancements

Fixes

• Fix an issue with custom play button styles not appearing correctly.

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.63.3

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Update to Video.js 7.17.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• When Generic Stream Concurrency service returns a 4xx error, playback should be terminated

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Fix configuration for heartbeat-based stream concurrency

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Add support for heartbeat-based stream concurrency

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.17.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• Support HDCP fallback with Fairplay
• Enable LLHLS support
• Populate the Dock area with the title and description earlier in some case

Fixes

• Fix last menu in control bar being cut off in Safari
• Fix seeking near buffered areas

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming 2.11.2

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.62.0

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.61.1

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Fixes

• Correctly detect codec switching support when sorting sources
• Fix an issue where player was incorrectly sized when using IMA3 pre-roll with Live SSAI

All unlocked players that have not opted-in to pre-releases have been updated and published. Newly created players will now default to this version.

See changes in 6.61.0

Only players that have opted-in to automatic pre-release updates have been updated and published.

See changes in 6.61.0

No existing players have been auto-updated to this version. Customers eager for a feature or fix that is only available in this version may manually update via the Studio Players JSON Editor or the Player Management API.

Features

• An encoding can now be specifies for 708 caption services to properly decode the text.
• When the player is configured with debug, the iframe embed will now be unminified.
• Friendlier error response when a DRM license fails to load.

Fixes

• Better handling of analytics events with Airplay.
• Better handle pages that include elements with an ID of default.
• Fix seeking around buffered regions.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js 7.15.6
• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming 2.11.0

Summary

• The Brightcove Player Pre-release and Release feeds will be combined into a single feed.
• This feed will list:
  • Player versions that are made available.
  • Announcements of versions being promoted to pre-release.
  • Announcements of versions being promoted to full release.

About Player Versions, Pre-releases and Full Releases

The lifecycle of a player version (e.g. 6.60.0) can be outlined as follows:

• A version is made available.

  This means it's made available to our production systems and players can be created with this new version. However, this version is not surfaced in the Studio and no players are auto-updated.

  Today, versions are unannounced.

• A version is promoted to pre-release.

  When a version is promoted to pre-release, all players that are set to use the current pre-release are updated to that version. This is a small minority of players that have opted-in to pre-release updates.

  Today, this corresponds to a new item in the Brightcove Player Pre-release feed.

• A version is promoted to full release.

  When a version is promoted to full release, all unlocked players are updated to that version. This is a majority of players.

  Today, this corresponds to a new item in the Brightcove Player Release feed.

Not all versions are pre-released. Not all pre-releases become full releases. Similarly, there are situations where pre-release phase will be skipped, such as some high priority bug fixes.

The Future of the Brightcove Player Release Feed

Rather than maintaining separate feeds with duplicate information, we plan to roll all these events into a single feed. The main benefit of this will be that each version number will have a single entry in a single feed and will tell you exactly what changed from the previous version. And you'll still know when the current pre-release and full release are changed.

Going forward, this feed will include the following types of entries:

• A version is made available.

  Each version will have an entry in the feed; however, this will not indicate when a version has been promoted to pre-release or full release. This will indicate that the version is now available for manual usage.

  These entries will be in the format that is familiar today: a listing of features, fixes, maintenance, and other changes included in a version.

• A version is promoted to pre-release.

  These entries will take the form of short announcements that we have promoted an available version to pre-release status in our production systems and that all pre-release players have been updated.

• A version is promoted to full release.

  These entries will take the form of short announcements that we have promoted an available version to full release status in our production systems and that all unlocked, non-pre-release players have been updated.

Features

• Show DRM configuration issues when DRM is detected but not configured correctly to start playback.

Fixes

• Prevent playback from stalling when seeking into a gap in the buffer.
• Prevent specific network issues from stalling playback when connection recovers.
• Do not log console warnings about realodSourceOnError being registered twice.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming v2.10.3

Features

• Exclude the Flash tech if "flash": false is set in the Player configuration.
• Add Sapphire skin to reflect updated Brightcove branding colors.
  • This is an opt-in only change for now and can be configured by setting "skin": "sapphire" in the player's JSON configuration.
  • This skin will become the default in v7.0.0.
• When the new Kollective eCDN plugin is included, the player will no longer automatically load media based on detected IDs (e.g. data-video-id attribute) and will, instead, allow this plugin to manage loading media.

Fixes

• Let controls autohide on desktop devices with touchscreens.
• Chromecast Receiver's Big Play Button will now use the selected custom colors.
• Prevent being able to click on opened menus on mobile devices when the controls are hidden.
• Stop triggering robustness warnings when testing for EME support
• When the player is embedded on pages with malformed query parameters, it will no longer throw an error. Instead, it will behave as if the query string were empty.

Maintenance

• Normalize autoplay-related configuration for playsinline and normalizeAutoplay options.

Package Updates

• Updated to Video.js 7.15.0
  • Prevent being able to click on opened menus on mobile devices when the controls are hidden.
  • Manually opened menus (such as, via a user click) were hiding when the mouse was not focused on the player.
  • Properly return promises from requestFullscreen and exitFullscreen
• Update to VHS 2.10.0
  • Some streams with bad audio data caused playback to fail
  • Fix an issue where switching renditions caused playback to fail

• Fix an issue where some known errors were showing up as unknown errors.

• Fix an issue where calling catalog.transformVideoResponse would throw an error

Fixes

• Fix issues with thumbnails and playlists
• Fix context_menu configuration to allow false value as expected

Features

• Include more granular error messages for users of Edge Playback Authorization (this means when EPA-protected streams encounter issues, users are more likely to see a useful error message instead of the generic MEDIA_ERR_DECODE.)
• Add embedDomain to the social plugin if config.china_proxy_domain has been set
• Add support for a video_cloud.source_selection_rules configuration. This configuration will allow publishers to provide declarative rules for how the player will filter and sort the list of sources returned from the Playback API.
  • Note: This configuration only controls the list of sources given to Video.js. It is distinct from the subsequent, internal Video.js logic which determines which available source will play. Currently, the only supported rule is prefer_mp4, which will allow publishers to filter out non-MP4 sources and, optionally, further sort the resulting list by any numeric property. Full documentation of this feature will be forthcoming!

Rendition changes

As of this release, whenever a user selects a particular rendition via a rendition picker or when switching to or out of fullscreen, the buffer is cleared to switch to the new rendition immediately. This will improve viewer experience as we will immediately switch up to a higher rendition when the view goes fullscreen.

Internet Explorer Support Update

Brightcove is no longer actively supporting Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) on any version of Windows. This was announced with the Brightcove Player 6.52.1 release and made official with the Brightcove Player 6.56.0 pre-release

Related bug reports and enhancement requests will not be accepted after this date. While we will not intentionally remove IE11 support in any version of Brightcove Player 6.x, we will not be actively testing against it either.

Customers requiring support for IE11 may wish to lock their player to this version. Note that locked players no longer receive new enhancements or bug fixes.

Edge is the recommended Microsoft browser and is fully supported by the Brightcove team.

Package Updates

• Update to Video.js v7.14.0
• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming v2.9.1

Player Configuration Changes

• Add support for context_menu.brightcove_branding normalization to contextMenu.brightcoveBranding lowerCamelCase in configuration.
• Add an initial_bandwidth configuration. This is a value set in bits per second that represents an initial bandwidth estimate for use with ABR algorithmns in the playback engine of the player.
• Add a umd configuration. By default, the player script is a Universal Module Definition (UMD) script. This means that it binds itself to RequireJS/AMD, CommonJS, or just globally depending on what's available. When this new option is set to false this removes the UMD wrapper and only binds the script to the global namespace. This is useful for sites using RequireJS but that do not wish load the Brightcove Player via RequireJs.

Package Updates

• Update video.js to v7.12.2. Notable changes:
  • Better text for exit fullscreen.
  • Menus with one item and a title remain visible.
  • Update focus styles on selected MenuItem.
  • Better Playback Rate control for screen readers.
• Update @videojs/http-streaming to 2.8.1. Notable changes:
  • Improve DASH live stream manifest updates.
• Update videojs-errors to v4.5.0. Notable changes:
  • Add support for -1 value for player error timeout and backgroundTimeout.
• Update videojs-dock to v2.2.0. Notable changes:
  • Create dock elements on player ready.
  • Add dynamic player element labelledBy and describedBy ARIA attributes.

• Update to Video.js 7.12.1. Notable changes:
  • Update responsive control bar in fullscreen.
  • Add a volume tooltip.
  • Improve switching of audio tracks.
• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming 2.7.1. Notable changes:
  • Support audio only manifests, particularly DRM-protected streams.
  • Improve time to first frame on live playlists.
  • Improve support for high bitrate renditions.
• Allow player timeout errors to be configured separately for foreground and background playback, with a higher timeout for background playback.
• Don't cache results of getAutoplayConditions().
• Make sure that endscreen doesn't trigger on iOS after ads.

Important Internet Explorer Support Update

As of June 15th, 2021, Brightcove will no longer actively support Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) on any version of Windows.

Related bug reports and enhancement requests will not be accepted after this date. While we will not intentionally remove IE11 support in any version of Brightcove Player 6.x, we will not be actively testing against it either.

Customers requiring support for IE11 may wish to lock their player to the last version released before June 15th to ensure continued functionality. Note that locked players no longer receive new enhancements or bug fixes.

Edge is the recommended Microsoft browser and is fully supported by the Brightcove team.

• Update to Video.js 7.11.6
  • Fix live UI for DVR not showing up for streams on Safari
• Update to Video.js HTTP Streaming 2.6.4
  • When preload=none is set, we will no longer download any data from the stream until playback is requested by the user or via autoplay.
  • Handle HLS streams with ProgramDateTime properly.
  • Improve an issue with Live DASH playback.
  • This adds support for @endNumber in DASH streams
  • Improve handling of QUOTA_EXCEEDED_ERR
• Analytics
  • Make sure that the final video_engagment event gets triggered in more cases
  • Add application() setter and getter
• UI
  • Make sure that buttons in the dock, like the Share button, are visible when tabbed into
  • Allow native context menu to be toggled via right click
• Miscellaneous
  • Add crossorigin if text tracks are being used and we're playing back on any Safari (macOS, iPadOS, iOS).
  • Fixes for multilingual metadata case-sensitivity and playlists
  • Allow blocking robot indexing of player HTML page via block_robots configuration
  • Escape HTML properly in more places
  • Improve playlist loading times on IE11.

• Update to Video.js 7.11.5
  • Fixes a couple issues where seeking on iOS may not seek to the correct position
  • Fix an issue where times in the control bar would be appended instead of replaced on IE11
  • Trigger a languagechange event when the langauge is set via player.language()
• Update to @videojs/http-streaming@2.5.0
  • Include preliminary support for 708 captions.
  • Don't include really small segments in bandwidth and throughput calculations.
  • Better rendition switches around discontinuities.
  • Fix an issue with rollover handling for long running live streams.
  • Fix an issue with rendition switching and seeking over discontinuities when the stream has large PTS/DTS values.
  • Fix an issue where, for streams with more than one playlist, after all playlists failed to load, the player would switch between the available playlists as fast as possible until one returned. Instead, in this case, playlists requests are delayed to prevent excessive playlist downloads.
• Multilingual Metadata related changes
  • Update video title and description when the player language changes if Multilingual Metadata is available for the Catalog items.
  • Fix a potential non-fatal error condition when a non-Video Cloud playlist was in use and catalog.getMetadata was called.
• Fix an issue where DRM content that began with clear segments could not play.
• Fix an issue where rendition switches that occurred immediately following an engagement event would cause engagement tracking to stop.
• Fix issue with EPA DRM source selection in Chromium Edge so Widevine is now preferred by default
• Add support for allowPlayreadyInChromiumEdge catalog plugin option to allow defining DRM source selection behavior in Chromium Edge
• Fix an issue with the progress bar showing up for non-DVR live streams in Safari.

Bug Fixes

• Limit automatically enabling captions to when Multilingual Metadata is enabled.

• Update to http-streaming 2.3.1

  • Fix an issue where some caption cues were missing from in-band manifests where multiple cues had the same start and end times.
  • Fix a bug where in-manifest captions would not show up properly and be removed from the captions menu.

Support for Multilingual Metadata

Multilingual Metadata is a feature of the CMS API that allows you to provide video metadata such as the title and description in multiple languages. If set, these variants are included in Playback API response that the player uses.

From 6.46.0 forward, when the player loads a new video from a Playback API response, it will look for an entry in the variants (if any) for one that matches the player's language. If a match is found, that variant will be used in the player UI in the "dock" where the title and description are displayed.

Additionally, any subtitles or captions track that matches the variant language will be selected as the default (unless one is explicitly marked as default already).

catalog.getMetadata Method

As part of this feature, a new utility method was added to the player: catalog.getMetadata, which can be used to get an object or array representation of the current video or playlist metadata.

It can be given an options object with up to two possible properties:

lang

This option allows you to get a representation of video or playlist metadata with the matching variant merged into the top-level metadata object.

For example, assume you have a video with metadata in English by default and a Spanish variant. A simplified set of metadata may look something like:

{
  "title": "Title of a Video",
  "variants": [{
    "language": "es",
    "title": "Título de un video"
  }, {
    // This "null" variant is added by the player to represent the default field values!
    language: null,
    "title": "Title of a Video"
  }]
}

Given that, you can retrieve a Spanish representation by:

player.catalog.getMetadata({lang: 'es'});

Which will return something like this where variants are still included, but the top-level title matches the Spanish variant:

{
  "title": "Título de un video",
  "variants": [{
    "language": "es",
    "title": "Título de un video"
  }, {
    language: null,
    "title": "Title of a Video"
  }]
}

In this way, you can easily get the current video metadata as it should be represented for the user's current player language:

var metadata = player.catalog.getMetadata({
  lang: player.language()
});

With that, you can do anything you need with metadata properties knowing that they'll be in the player's language if a variant was available for it!

type

This can be 'video' (the default) or 'playlist'.

When type: 'video' (or no value) is given, metadata for the currently selected video will be returned - regardless of whether the player is playing a single video or playlist.

When type: 'playlist' is given and a playlist is in use, metadata for the entire playlist - an array - will be returned. If no playlist is available, it will fall back to returning the current video; so, it's a good idea to check the return value type in this case (e.g., using Array.isArray)!

This option can be combined with the lang option; so, for example, you can retrieve a translated representation of a playlist with a call like:

var playlistMetadata = player.catalog.getMetadata({
  lang: player.language(),
  type: 'playlist'
});

Features

• Brightcove Player will now report the plugins version to analytics.
• Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.2.2 , addressing some notable issues that were discovered with 2.2.0 (in Brightcove Player 6.45.4):
  • Handling tech errors before pause player loader
  • Handling ID3 sections checking pending segments before appends done.

Bug Fixes

• Fix a case where closed captions overlap when the font size is different than 100%.
• Fix cases where player.language() returned undefined by default.
• Fix a case where catalog parameter defaults could conflict between players on the same page.
  • This was unlikely to have affected anyone except, perhaps, in rare cases where players from multiple accounts and of the same version were on the same page.

Features

Upgrade to @videojs/http-streaming 2.2.0

The inclusion of VHS 2 in the main Brightcove Player release is a huge milestone for us. This major update to our playback engine sets us up for many future enhancements including better Live DASH support and low latency streaming. It represents the culmination of many months of behind the scenes effort, testing, and refinement.

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to delivering VHS 2!

Bug Fixes

• Upgrade to Video.js 7.9.3
• If we can find it, show the DRM plugin version in the player info modal
• Fix failures with previews and file URLs with query parameters
• Fix a regression in support for language attribute on the video embed.
  • This use case is deprecated. It will now log a warning in the browser console. language is not a valid attribute for the <video> or <video-js> element!

Features

• Add support IMA CSAI preroll with SSAI via special configuration (documentation forthcoming)
• Update to Video.js 7.9.2

Bug Fixes

• Fix intermittent initialization failures on Chromecast devices
• Fix player controls being unresponsive on iPhones when leaving fullscreen
• Fix a regression in support for the application ID
• Fix a regression in support for an "hls": true JSON configuration.
  • This configuration didn't actually do anything previously, but a recent change caused it to break players that did have it.
• Fix a regression in support for language attribute on the video embed.
  • This use case is deprecated. It will now log a warning in the browser console. language is not a valid attribute for the <video> or <video-js> element!

Bug Fixes

• Add a workaround for captions not displaying on native fullscreen on latest versions of iOS/iPhone
• Address an issue passing SSAI parameters to the Chromecast receiver
• Only add thumbnails tracks if videojs-thumbnails is in use. This resolves some harmless but unsightly error messages that were being logged for some users.

Features

• Send video_engagement event when new rendition is chosen
• Update to Video.js 7.8.1 and @videojs/http-streaming 1.13.2

Bug Fixes

• Consider protocol when selecting thumbnail WebVTT
• Fix detection of default language in iframe embeds

Features

• Support VTT thumbnails URLs in Playback API responses

Bug Fixes

• Make sure we send play_request when we have a preroll ad
• Update to Video.js 7.7.6
• Address issues with autoplay detection on iOS and Android

Features

• Add support for Edge Playback Authorization
• Add Arabic language (ar) support

Bug Fixes

• Fix a regression in language handling introduced in 6.38.0
• Update Video.js HTTP Streaming to v1.12.3, which fixes issues with quality levels, live startup failures, and much more.
• Fix issues with remote files that are only delivered with gzip compression
• Don't fail build on files with query parameters and special characters

Chores

• Update videojs-errors to 4.3.2

Features

• Add player configuration parameter for disabling native Picture-in-Picture button
• Add support for Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) character sets in translated strings
• Add Arabic language (ar) support
• Add support for Edge Playback Authorization

Bug Fixes

• Fix DRM playback on IE11 on Windows 8.1
• Fix volume control color during ad playback with older versions of the SSAI plugin
• Fix a compatibility issue with 6.38.0 and the IMA3 plugin 3.4.0
• Resolve an issue with reporting engagement when certain playback rates are set by the user.
• Fix issues with remote files that are only delivered with gzip compression
• Only send requests to the Playback API if there is a valid policy key.

Chores

• Update to Video.js 7.7.5
• Update to videojs-http-streaming 1.12.2

Bug Fixes

• Fix a regression where attributes were not properly recognized for loop, muted, and playsinline.

Chores

• Update http-streaming to version 1.11.1

Features

• Add support for Widevine HLS playback

Chores

• Update Video.js to 7.6.5

Bug Fixes

• Fix a regression in support for non-default preload values

Features

• Add support for suppress_not_supported_error in the player config.

Bug Fixes

• Fix an issue where disposing the player would log an error after around 10 seconds.
• Fix the naming of the data-delivery-config-id attribute.
• Fix several playback-related issues related to gaps and stuttering.
• Fix a regression in 6.31.1 that caused localized players to error.
• Disable keyboard shortcuts when user is focused on a contenteditable field.
• Avoid errors caused by using an AMD loader other than RequireJS.
• Prevent context menu from appearing when targeting text input elements.

Chores

• Update Video.js to 7.6.5
• Update http-streaming to 1.10.6

Additional Notes

Astute users may notice that the most recent pre-release was 6.36.4 - in other words, we skipped the pre-release phase for 6.36.5. The difference between these versions was an update from Video.js 7.6.4 to 7.6.5. The reason for this change is that, with Video.js 7.6.4, we noticed that the default ID for the first player created changed from vjs_video_3 to vjs_video_2 due to internal refactoring and code improvements.

We didn't want to break any customer integrations that might be relying on vjs_video_3 (which our support staff have informed us is a known use-case).

This is a great opportunity to educate our users that the vjs_video_3 ID should not be relied upon because it is automatically generated using an internal, auto-incrementing variable. There are better ways to get a reference to your player!

Our current general recommendation for getting player references is to use the videojs.getPlayer() method. This method takes an ID string or a DOM element (e.g., a <video-js> element). The videojs.players object can only be used to get player references by their ID (generated or not). When not assigning an ID to your player, the recommendation is to pass an embed element reference to the videojs.getPlayer() method:

<video-js ...></video-js>
<script src="//players.brightcove.net/.../index.min.js"></script>
<script>
  (function(){


    // Use any method you want to get a DOM node reference.
    var embed = document.querySelector('video-js');


    // Retrieve the already-created player using a DOM node reference instead of an ID.
    var player = videojs.getPlayer(embed);


    // Just in case something went wrong creating the player in the Brightcove script above!
    if (!player) {
      return;
    }


    // Do things with the `player` object here...
  })();
</script>

Features

• Add support for suppress_not_supported_error in the player config.

Bug Fixes

• Fix an issue where disposing the player would log an error after around 10 seconds.
• Fix the naming of the data-delivery-config-id.

Chores

• Update to Video.js 7.6.1
  • This update includes support for a new Picture-in-Picture button. This is distinct from our plugin of the same name and refers to the native PiP support available in some browsers.
  • The button will only appear when the browser supports native PiP via the WICG specification. Currently, this does not include Safari.
  • The button will not appear if the player is configured with an advertising plugin.

Bug Fixes

• Address an issue where the first seek back into the DVR window after autoplaying a live stream would cause the player to seek to the live edge instead.
• Work around a Firefox issue where 'oncontextmenu' event triggers 'click' event.

Features

• Add support for Dynamic Delivery Rules
• Add support for playback_rates in the player config.

Chores

• Update Video.js HTTP Streaming to 1.10.3
• Update Video.js to 7.5.5
• Re-enable hotkeys. Observed issues should be fixed with Video.js 7.5.5