CanvasVideo.js

canvasvideo.js is a lightweight library to play video file in a canvas element with audio support. This is the best way to play inline video with sound on iPhone.

Presentation

We thought canvasvideo.js to help people to create immersive video experiences on mobile devices. This library draw video element on a canvas and sync it with the audio (from the video file or an audio file fallback).

Features

• plays inline video file (mp4) with audio on iPhone (directly in the browser)
• autoplays video without sound on iOS device (without touch event)
• Manages Audio by the webaudio API (with HTML5 Audio fallback)
• Auto unlock webaudio playback on the first touchend event.
• supports xhr
• supports playbackRate
• similar methods/events to video DOM element

Live demo

• Basic
• Autoplay without sound

Featured project

• because-recollection.com

Getting started

Installation

npm install canvasvideo.js --save

Import

You can import canvasvideo.js as a Browserify module.

var CanvasVideo = require('canvasvideo.js');

or with a classic script tag.

<script type='text/javascript' src='js/canvasvideo.js'></script>

Basic usage example

var video = new CanvasVideo('./videos/file.mp4', {audio:true, xhr:true, audioBuffer:false});
video.addEventListener('canplaythrough', onLoaded);
video.load();
 
function onLoaded(e)
{
    document.body.appendChild(video.element);
    if (!video.needTouch) video.play();
    else document.body.addEventListener('touchend', playVideo);
}
 
function playVideo()
{
    video.play();
}

Autoplay video without sound on iOS

var options = {
    xhr: false,
    bufferTime: 6,
    audio: false,
    preload: true,
    autoplay: true
}
var video = new CanvasVideo('./videos/file.mp4', options);
document.body.appendChild(video.element);

Video with mp3 file

var options = {
    xhr: false,
    audioBuffer: true,
    audio: './sound/file.mp3',
    loop: true
}
var video = new CanvasVideo('./videos/file.mp4', options);
video.addEventListener('canplaythrough', onLoaded);
video.load ();
 
function onLoaded(e)
{
    document.body.appendChild(video.element);
    if (!video.needTouch) video.play();
    else document.body.addEventListener('touchend', playVideo);
}
 
function playVideo()
{
    video.play();
}

Use canvasvideo.js as a video fallback on iPhone

<video id='myvideo' loop>
    <source src='./videos/file.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
</video>
 
<script>
    var video = document.getElementById('myvideo');
    if (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('iphone') >= 0)
    {
        document.body.removeChild(video);
        video = new CanvasVideo(video, {xhr:true, audioBuffer:false});
        document.body.appendChild(video.element);
    }
    video.addEventListener('canplaythrough', onLoaded);
    video.load();
 
    function onLoaded(e)
    {
        console.log(video.loop); // true
        video.play();
    }
</script>

Documentation

Constructor

var video = new CanvasVideo(src, options);

• src: This parameter could be:
  • String url of a video file.
  • Object object containing informations about the video file.
    • {src:'file.mp4', type:'video/mp4'}
  • Array Array of strings or objects.
    • ['file.mp4', 'file.ogg']
    • [{src:'file.mp4', type:'video/mp4'}, {src:'file.ogg', type:'video/ogg'}]
  • <video> a video element.
• options: Object Object that could contain:
  • audio: This parameter could be:
    • Boolean (default: false) Set to true to play audio channel of the video file.
    • String url of an audio file.
  • audioBuffer: Boolean (default: false) Set to false to use the webaudio API (fully preload audio file) or set to true to force HTML5 Audio (the audio file could be play without to be fully preload).
  • audioContext: AudioContext (optional) the AudioContext to use.
  • autoplay: Boolean (default: false) Set to true to start playing when it is loaded.
  • bufferTime: Number (default: 4.0) The number of seconds assigned to the buffer (only use if you don't use xhr).
  • canvas: <canvas> (optional) the canvas to use as canvasvideo.
  • fps: Number (default: 24.0) Frame per seconds.
  • loop: Boolean (default: false) Set to true to automatically start over again when finished.
  • playbackRate: Number (default: 1.0) Set the default speed of the audio/video playback.
  • preload: Boolean (default: false) Set to true to automatically load when canvasvideo is create.
  • volume: Number (default: 1.0) Set the default volume of the audio.
  • xhr: Boolean (default: true) Set to true to fully preload video/audio file(s).
    • Recommanded if audio:true to not preload the video file twice (as video element and as audio element).

Methods

• canPlayType: Checks if the browser can play the specified audio/video type.
• destroy: Destroy properly the CanvasVideo element.
• load: Begins preload of video & audio.
• pause: Pauses playback of video & audio.
• play: Begins playback of video & audio.

Properties

• autoplay: Boolean Get/set if the video should start playing as soon as it is loaded.
• bufferLength: Number Get the number of seconds of data currently in the buffer.
• bufferTime: Number Get/set the number of seconds assigned to the buffer.
• currentSrc: String Get the URL of the current video.
• currentTime: Number Get/set the current time of the canvasvideo.
• duration: Number Returns the length of the current audio/video (in seconds).
• element: <canvas> Returns the canvas element use as canvasvideo.
• fps: Number Get the video framerate.
• height: Number Get/set the canvasvideo height.
• id: String Get/set canvas element id.
• loop: Boolean Get/set the loop parameter.
• muted: Boolean Sets or returns whether the video/audio is muted or not.
• needTouchDevice: Boolean returns if the device require a touchend event to start playing.
• paused: Boolean Returns whether the audio/video is paused or not.
• playbackRate: Number Sets or returns the speed of the audio/video playback.
• readyState: Number Returns the current ready state of the audio/video (only 0 or 4).
• seeking: Boolean Returns whether the user is currently seeking in the audio/video.
• src: String/Object/Array/<video> Returns the src of the canvasvideo.
• useWebAudioAPI: Boolean Returns true if canvasvideo is using the web audio API.
• videoHeight: Number Get the original video height.
• videoWidth: Number Get the original video width.
• volume: Number Get/set the video audio volume.
• width: Number Get/set the canvasvideo width.
• xhr: Boolean Get the xhr parameter.

Events

• canplay: Fires when the browser can start playing the video
• canplaythrough: Fires when the buffer is full.
• ended: Fires when the current playlist is ended.
• loadstart Fires when the browser has loaded the current frame of the audio/video.
• pause: Fires when the audio/video has been paused.
• play: Fires when the audio/video has been started or is no longer paused.
• playing: Fires when the audio/video is playing after having been paused or stopped for buffering.
• progress: Fires when the browser is downloading the audio/video.
• seeked: Fires when the user is finished moving/skipping to a new position in the audio/video.
• seeking: Fires when the user starts moving/skipping to a new position in the audio/video.
• timeupdate: Fires when the current playback position has changed.
• waiting: Fires when the video stops because it needs to buffer the next frame.

Browser Compatibility

Tested in the following browsers/OS:

• Mobile iOS 8.0+

Known issues

• Doesn't work on Android devices.

Releases

• Releases archive

License

This content is released under the (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) MIT License.