Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VideoJS VS Plyr

Compare VideoJS VS Plyr and see what are their differences

VideoJS logo VideoJS

VideoJS is an HTML5 Video Player, built with Javascript and CSS, with a fallback to a Flash video...

Plyr logo Plyr

A simple, accessible and customisable HTML5 media player
  • VideoJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-29
  • Plyr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23

VideoJS features and specs

  • Open Source
    VideoJS is open source, meaning it has a large community of developers contributing to its ongoing improvements and features.
  • Cross-browser Compatibility
    VideoJS works smoothly on all modern browsers, ensuring a wide reach and consistent user experience.
  • Plugins and Extensions
    There are numerous plugins and extensions available for VideoJS, allowing for extensive customization and additional functionality.
  • Responsive Design
    VideoJS supports responsive design out of the box, ensuring that videos look good on all screen sizes from mobile phones to desktop monitors.
  • Multiple Video Formats
    VideoJS supports a wide range of video formats such as MP4, WebM, and HLS, providing flexibility in content delivery.
  • Customizable Skins
    The player is highly customizable, allowing developers to adjust its appearance to match the branding of their websites or applications.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    VideoJS has thorough and easy-to-follow documentation, which facilitates quicker implementation and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of VideoJS

  • Performance
    For sites with heavy traffic, VideoJS can sometimes have performance issues, such as longer load times or buffering.
  • Complexity for Beginners
    The extensive customization options may be confusing for beginners who are not yet familiar with web development and video standards.
  • Dependency Management
    VideoJS relies on various dependencies that need to be managed carefully to avoid conflicts and ensure smooth operation.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    Some advanced features may require additional plugins or custom development, as they are not available out of the box.
  • Mobile Browsers
    While VideoJS does support mobile browsers, there can be occasional inconsistencies or issues, particularly with less popular mobile operating systems.

Plyr features and specs

  • Customizable
    Plyr offers extensive customization options, allowing developers to adjust the player's appearance and functionality to match the design and needs of their website or application.
  • Responsive Design
    Plyr is built to be responsive, ensuring that media content plays well on various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
  • Lightweight
    The library is lightweight, which means it can load quickly and improve the overall performance of a website or application.
  • Accessibility
    Plyr is designed with accessibility in mind, providing support for keyboard navigation, screen readers, and other assistive technologies.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Plyr allows developers to contribute to its improvement and adapt it to suit specific needs. It also means there is no cost to use it.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Plyr supports a wide range of modern browsers, ensuring that media playback is consistent across different environments.
  • Plugin Support
    Plyr supports various plugins and integrations, making it easier to extend its functionality and integrate with third-party services or platforms.

Possible disadvantages of Plyr

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While Plyr offers many basic and essential features, it may lack some advanced features found in other premium or specialized media players.
  • Dependency on CSS and JavaScript
    Plyr relies on additional CSS and JavaScript files, which means developers need to ensure those assets are loaded correctly to maintain the player's functionality.
  • Customization Complexity
    Although Plyr is customizable, making significant changes to its default settings may require a deeper understanding of its API and underlying code.
  • Community and Support
    As an open-source project, Plyr may not have the same level of dedicated support or comprehensive documentation as some commercial alternatives.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    While Plyr aims to be compatible with many modern browsers, there may still be occasional issues or inconsistencies, particularly with less commonly used browsers or older versions.
  • Performance Overhead
    Even though Plyr is lightweight, integrating it into a highly optimized web application may add some performance overhead, particularly if not managed properly.

VideoJS videos

Demmo

More videos:

  • Demo - Doraemon Music 2

Plyr videos

ReevoH's Skullcandy PLYR 2 Wireless Headset Review/Unboxing

More videos:

  • Review - Skullcandy PLYR 1 Gaming Headset Review/ First Impression

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VideoJS and Plyr)
YouTube Tools
62 62%
38% 38
Video Platform
63 63%
37% 37
Marketing Platform
64 64%
36% 36
Video Players & Editors
55 55%
45% 45

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VideoJS should be more popular than Plyr. It has been mentiond 20 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

VideoJS mentions (20)

  • Stream to Chromecast with resolved, vlc and bash
    For people who like to watch with subtitles, VLC currently doesn't support streaming to chromecast with SRT subtitles.. There are several issues for it and I believe support is slated for the next major version of Chromecast, but not sure when that will be. The typical "workaround" is to reencode the video file to include the subtitles directly, but that sounded like too much work, so I hacked together a static... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Floatplane is a disappointment
    Videojs is superior to basically everything. It's also open source... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Best practice for multiple autoplay videos
    Another option is looking at https://videojs.com/ with the Vimeo video file links. Source: about 2 years ago
  • trying do download a blob video
    I am woring with HTML - I managed to download a (m3u8) video. By inspecting the webpage (videojs.com). Source: over 2 years ago
  • Building a React live streaming app with 100ms
    Now, to display the HLS stream to viewers, we’ll use HLS.js, which we installed earlier. For more UI customizations, you can check out Video.js, which uses HLS.js internally. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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Plyr mentions (13)

  • Embed video player
    Has anyone tried integrating something like Plyr into a framer site? Source: over 1 year ago
  • Best way to showcase videos without the site becoming slow?
    Just going to post my free no-code tool again for u/Thenmatwaslike. It's a great way to visualize the changes you're making to your Vimeo video with plyr.io, and then it spits out the code you need for your Webflow site. Https://vimeoconfig.com/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Best way to showcase videos without the site becoming slow?
    Here is a free no-code tool I made that lets you use plyr.io with your Vimeo videos. The benefit also being that you can customize your Vimeo videos appearance without a Vimeo pro account: vimeoconfig.com. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Anyone Knows of A Good Responsive Video Player For SvelteKit?
    You shouldn’t need a svelte-specific video player—you can just use a vanilla js library, Plyr for example. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Replacing web media players with CSS/Userscript
    Is it possible to force the media player style to be replaced with the plyr.io style? Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VideoJS and Plyr, you can also consider the following products

JW Player - JW Player is an embeddable media player.

MediaElement.js - MediaElement.js provides HTML5 audio and video players in pure HTML and CSS.

Flowplayer - Flowplayer is a video player for web sites.

FV Player - WordPress's most reliable, easy to use and feature-rich video player.

SublimeVideo - The HTML5 Video Player Everyone Deserves.

VPlayed - A Self-hosted OTT Streaming Solution for Content Owners & Broadcasters