Getting a video URL to autoplay can be useful for creating engaging content on your website or providing your visitors with relevant video content as soon as they arrive. However, autoplaying videos is not always desired by users, so you need to consider when it’s appropriate to enable this feature.
What is Autoplay?
Autoplay means that a video will start playing automatically when the page loads, without the user needing to click a play button. This allows for a more seamless viewing experience, but can also be disruptive if the user does not expect or want the video to play right away.
Benefits of Autoplay
There are a few key benefits to enabling autoplay on video URLs:
- Creates an immersive experience – Videos that start playing immediately help capture the viewer’s attention and provide rich media content from the start.
- Saves clicks – Viewers don’t have to take an extra step to start watching the video. This leads to higher engagement.
- Preloads video – Autoplay forces the video to begin buffering in the background even before the viewer starts watching. This minimizes loading time and stuttering when the video is played.
- Encourages views – Studies show that autoplaying videos increase overall watch time and completion rates versus videos that require clicking to start.
Downsides of Autoplay
However, there are also some downsides to keep in mind when enabling autoplay:
- Interruptive – Videos that play unexpectedly can disrupt the user experience, especially if the sound is on by default.
- Data usage – Autoplay videos use more mobile data, which can be expensive for users without unlimited plans.
- Accessibility – Some users with cognitive or physical disabilities may not be able to easily pause or stop unwanted autoplaying videos.
- Annoying – Many users find autoplaying videos annoying and intrusive if they aren’t interested in the content.
When to Use Autoplay
In general, autoplay is best used in the following situations:
- On media or entertainment focused sites where video is the main content.
- For short teaser or promotional videos to capture interest.
- On pages focused on a single video, like a video watch page.
- When visitors are unlikely to be using mobile devices or metered connections.
- With the sound disabled by default.
- When visitors are able to easily pause or disable autoplay if desired.
You may want to avoid autoplay in these cases:
- On pages with mixed media like text and images, where video may be disruptive.
- For very long videos that require significant time and bandwidth.
- On websites where mobile use is expected to be high.
- If sound is enabled by default.
- If visitors are unlikely to want or have time to watch the full video.
How to Autoplay Videos by Adding Parameters to the URL
Many video platforms like YouTube allow you to enable autoplay by adding certain parameters to the video URL.
For YouTube, you can add &autoplay=1
to the end of the URL to enable autoplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&autoplay=1
Vimeo uses &autoplay=true
:
https://vimeo.com/VIDEO_ID?autoplay=true
For HTML5 video you can add the autoplay
attribute to the <video>
tag:
<video src="video.mp4" autoplay></video>
How to Autoplay Videos in JavaScript
You can also start video playback automatically using JavaScript by calling the play()
method on the video element:
<script> const video = document.getElementById("myVideo"); video.play(); </script>
This will work on many modern browsers, but may not work on all mobile devices due to autoplay restrictions. You can detect if autoplay is supported and only attempt to autoplay if allowed.
if (video.autoplay) { video.play(); } else { // fallback to play on click }
Autoplay on Mobile Devices
Many mobile operating systems block autoplaying videos to save bandwidth and prevent disruptive experiences. You may need to trigger autoplay only after getting user interaction on mobile:
let isMobile = /iPhone|iPad|iPod|Android/i.test(navigator.userAgent); if (isMobile) { // Play on click for mobile video.addEventListener('click', function() { video.play(); }); } else { // Autoplay on desktop video.play(); }
Alternatively, mute autoplaying videos on mobile to prevent disruption but still take advantage of preloading:
if (isMobile) { video.muted = true; video.play(); } else { video.play(); }
Autoplay Policies by Browser
Browsers may impose additional restrictions or requirements for autoplaying media. It’s important to test and account for these policies:
Browser | Autoplay Policy |
---|---|
Chrome | Autoplay with sound allowed only after user interaction. Muted autoplay allowed. |
Firefox | Allows autoplay but pauses media that uses too much CPU in background tabs. |
Safari | Autoplay with sound allowed after user interaction. Muted autoplay allowed. |
Edge | Follows Chrome’s autoplay policy. |
Opera | Blocks autoplay with sound until user interacts with page. |
How to Avoid Autoplay Blocking
To ensure your autoplay videos are played consistently across browsers:
- Use muted autoplay and provide user controls to unmute.
- Detect when autoplay is blocked and offer a click-to-play fallback.
- Enable autoplay only after user interaction, such as clicking a button.
- For JavaScript autoplay, place code in an asynchronous callback like on page load.
- Ensure autoplay videos are small files and don’t use excessive resources.
- Set the
playsinline
attribute for inline autoplay on mobile.
Resources for Troubleshooting Autoplay
If you are having issues getting videos to autoplay, here are some resources for debugging:
- Test video URLs in different browsers and devices.
- Inspect browser console logs for errors related to autoplay.
- Enable verbose media logging in Chrome to see blocking reasons.
- Check if Promise returned from
play()
is rejected. - Try a simple video example like from HTML5test.com to isolate problems.
- Search Stack Overflow and GitHub issues for similar autoplay problems.
- Check if video has an audio track – silent videos may autoplay more reliably.
- Review browser autoplay and media playback policies for changes.
Optimizing for Autoplay
To improve the experience if you intend to use autoplay, follow these best practices:
- Use short promotional clips rather than full length videos if possible.
- Set a preview image so video looks better before playback.
- Use muted autoplay and offer an unmute button.
- Save bandwidth by using videos with lower resolutions.
- Lower video quality settings to reduce cost of autoplaying videos.
- Only download one chunk at a time by disabling preload.
- Detect expensive networks like 4G and disable autoplay to save data.
- Improve perceived load times with image placeholders while video buffers.
- Use video lazy loading offscreen so autoplay doesn’t compete for resources.
User Experience Considerations
While autoplay can provide a more engaging experience for videos, it’s important to balance that against potential negative impacts on users. Some best practices include:
- Use text and visual cues like a playback icon to indicate videos will autoplay.
- Allow users to quickly mute or pause videos that automatically start.
- Don’t enable autoplay on pages that aren’t focused on video content.
- Avoid autoplaying multiple videos at the same time.
- Position autoplay videos out of sight of important page content.
- Lower the volume or use muted autoplay if allowing sound.
- Provide preferences to disable autoplay or customize behavior.
Conclusion
Enabling autoplay on video URLs can provide a more seamless viewing experience but also introduces usability concerns. Use autoplay judiciously in appropriate situations, optimize videos to reduce resource use, allow user controls, and follow platform-specific requirements to balance benefits with avoiding disruption.
With careful implementation and testing across browsers and devices, autoplay can be used to deliver engaging video content to your users efficiently and considerately.