Playback and controls
Here, we'll go over questions about playback behavior and player controls.
Can my video resume where viewers left off if the play bar is hidden?
Not by default. Wistia turns off resuming when the play bar is hidden. To keep it on, add the resumable="true" embed option to your embed code. With that option, the video resumes whether or not the play bar is visible.
When the play bar is visible, Wistia resumes videos on its own as long as the following pieces are true:
The video is 5 minutes or longer
Autoplay is off
The video isn't set to loop
Head on over to our Developer website for a full breakdown.
Note
Resuming only kicks in if the viewer stopped after the first 10 seconds and before the last few seconds of the video. The viewer's spot is saved in their browser, so it won't carry over to another browser or device. Videos with a set start time, and live streams, always start from their usual starting point.
Can audio descriptions play by default?
No. Viewers always choose whether to turn on audio descriptions. The video loads with the original audio, and viewers switch to the described version with the audio description control in the player.
What you can control is whether that control shows in the player. It only appears if the video has an audio description track. Check out Audio descriptions to learn more.
Embed types and security
We'll cover how different embeds function, and some common security questions related to them.
What's the difference between Standard and Fallback (iframe) embeds?
Standard (the default) uses JavaScript to build the player right on your page.
Fallback (iframe) loads the player inside an iframe. The embed code still has a script tag at the end.
We recommend standard embed codes whenever possible. Fallback embeds tend to load a little slower, but they're still a great option if the standard embed code isn't working as expected on your website. Head on over to our Inline embeds article to learn more.
My security team doesn't allow outside scripts. Can I remove the script from a Fallback embed?
Yes. The video still plays, Wistia still collects analytics, and domain restrictions still apply, because the player runs inside the iframe. That said, the script at the end is what lets the player work with your page. Without it, you lose the following:
The JavaScript Player API
Page-side tracking and integrations, like Google Analytics, HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot
If you don't use either of these, a Fallback embed without the script works. If you'd rather keep them, your team can allow Wistia's domains in your content security policy (CSP) instead. See our CSP guide for more information.
Page load and performance
There are a lot of different components when it comes to page load time and performance. We'll outline how an embed loads and how to improve performance.
How much does an embed load before someone clicks play?
An embed loads very little before a visitor clicks play. Before play, the player loads the thumbnail, the player controls, basic video information (metadata), and SEO metadata if it's turned on. The video itself only starts downloading after a viewer clicks play, and then it streams in small chunks rather than one big file.
Here are some tips to keep your page as light as possible:
Avoid autoplay, since autoplaying videos start downloading as soon as the page loads
Use a still image thumbnail instead of a video thumbnail
Add the
preload="none"embed option to skip even the basic video information until a visitor hits playUse the Standard embed instead of Fallback (iframe)
Tip
The number of embeds on a page matters more than anything else. Each extra embed adds to your page's load time.
Webinars
Can I embed many webinars on one page?
You can, but each webinar needs its own embed code, and each one adds to your page's load time. For a page with many webinars, try one of these instead:
Add your webinars to a Channel, which loads one video at a time. See Webinars in Channels for everything you need to know.
Group related sessions into a webinar series so viewers register once for all of them
Give each webinar its own page
If you do put several on one page, the Embed player only options is lighter than the Embed entire event option, since it leaves out registration, chat, Q&A, and polls. Check out the Embed a full webinar experience article for more information.
Still have questions? Give us a shout.