Update: JW7 is now available. Check it out here.
We are pleased to announce the official release of JW Player 5.4. Version 5.4 supports both Flash and HTML5, and is an improved version of the recent JW Player 5.3 for Flash and HTML5 release. The 5.3 release was a big step forward for the JW Player, introducing a built in embed mechanism, HTML5 support, and a new JavaScript API. Our overarching goal with 5.3 was to make it easier for publishers to distribute their content to all devices and for developers to build amazing products that work seamlessly across all platforms.
What’s New in 5.4?
With the 5.4 Release, we’ve been working hard to improve player performance, stability, and most importantly, making content accessible on even more devices. To achieve our goal of maximum compatibility, in 5.4, we’ve added a download mode for the player. In practice, this works by detecting if a viewer has either Flash or HTML5 playback capabilities on their device/browser, and then providing a download link if neither is available. This means that viewers using devices like the BlackBerry, Symbian handsets, or older Android builds will still be able to view the content.
We’ve also enhanced the embedder’s ability to detect which mode of the player provides the best experience for viewers. Publishers still have the ability to specify which mode of the player they prefer their viewers to use, but in the event that the default mode is unable to play back the video, we’ll check the other listed modes to see if they’re able to playback the video. For example, if you’ve set HTML5 mode as your default and you’re trying to play MP4 or WebM in Firefox, the player will now fail over to Flash and play the MP4.
There are several other enhancements and small bug fixes which are listed on our developer site.
The highlights include:
- Support for Apple .M3U8 playlists for HTML5
- Stretching mode configuration is honored in HTML5 mode
- The JW Embedder and HTML5 mode are now compatible with the most popular JavaScript libraries, including MooTools and Prototype
- The JW Embedder now allows wmode configuration for Flash mode
- Seek calls are now queued if the player is not playing when they are made
Download the JW Player 5.4
You can download the JW Player 5.4 for Flash and HTML5 here. As always, we would love to hear your feedback on the release. Just post your comments directly to this blog.