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I've recently switched my employers self-hosted video player from Flash to HTML5 Video. Since the switch, we have had increasing numbers of users report that they are unable to play our videos.

Through a series of error-reporting functions, and further tests with users I can say conclusively that the issue is with the video files themselves. The users are capable of playing the file type, and having compared with the likes of YouTube, Vimeo etc, I cannot see any clear reason why the way our videos are enconded would cause a failure. The issue largely affects users on older of lower-end devices, but not exclusively.

I have included screen grabs of a typical videos settings for review in case anyone is able to spot an obvious problem.

Image 1: https://i.stack.imgur.com/A3zOS.png

Image 2: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hdu6I.png

Edit: The users cannot initiate playback at all. We have provided them with direct links to the video files, so their browsers can play them in their natural optimised state - and still nothing works.

The error reporting we have implement shows us a range of data from connection speed, device info, browser info, location and tracking various possible points of error throughout our full player. There doesn't appear to be any notable correlation between users other than almost all Chromebook users have issues. But many others do also.

Tom Edson
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  • When you say they're unable to play it, does this mean a total inability to start playback, or simply poor and unreliable playback? What exactly do the error-reporting functions you've written report? The first and most obvious potential cause is that the users on low-end devices aren't capable of playing 1920x1080 AVC properly simply because of their hardware, even if they're using a browser that would support it. – Ryan Plant Dec 30 '16 at 20:32
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    I'd have a look at the optimization of the mp4 files, something like this answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32937114/set-up-buffering-for-video-object/32959717#32959717 might give you some pointers for reducing bitrate while still keeping reasonable quality – Offbeatmammal Dec 30 '16 at 20:35
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    Unless all your users have exactly the same player you may well have a codec issue, which may be supported on newer players but not by older versions; or perhaps not supported at all because your container is not mpeg/4 at all. If it is, try changing the extension from mp4 to m4a (audio) or m4v (video) and see if that helps. –  Dec 30 '16 at 20:36

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