Multi-technology support

A single source can list several resources of different types. When the source is played, Player Web X automatically selects the resource it can play in the current environment. This lets you ship one source configuration that works across browsers, instead of detecting the environment yourself and building a different source config for each one.

const player = bitmovin.playerx.Player({
  key: 'YOUR-PLAYER-KEY',
  defaultContainer: document.getElementById("player-container")
});

const sourceConfig = {
  resources: [
    { url: 'https://.../stream.mpd', type: 'dash' },
    { url: 'https://.../master.m3u8', type: 'hls' },
    { url: 'https://.../fallback.mp4', type: 'progressive' },
  ],
}

const sourceApi = player.sources.add(sourceConfig);
sourceApi.play();

How the player selects a resource

The player walks the resources array in order and plays the first resource it can handle in the current environment. The order you list resources in is therefore your fallback preference - put the format you prefer first.

For each resource, the player assembles the technology needed to play it:

• A manifest technology parses the stream (the HLS or DASH parser). Progressive resources have no manifest, so they skip this step.
• A presentation technology renders it. This is either Media Source Extensions (MSE), where the player feeds media to its own SourceBuffer, or the browser's native <video> element.

If the current environment supports a valid combination for a resource, that resource is selected. Otherwise the player moves on to the next resource in the array. MSE-based playback is preferred, with native <video> playback used as the fallback.

What each resource type needs

A resource type can only be selected if the bundle you load includes the technology that handles it. Progressive playback uses the browser's <video> element and is available in every bundle that supports playback.

Notes and limitations

• Every resource must declare its type. See Resource types.
• Listing multiple resources of the same type is allowed, but only the first one that resolves is used.