The Vimeo Player API allows you to interact with and control an embedded Vimeo Player.
You can install the Vimeo Player API through either npm:
npm install @vimeo/player
Alternatively, you can reference an up‐to‐date version on our CDN:
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
Warning: when used with RequireJS it's required to load the script dynamically via the RequireJS load system.
http://www.requirejs.org/docs/api.html#jsfiles
In order to control the Vimeo player, you need a player to control. There are a few ways to get a player:
Already have a player on the page? Pass the element to the Vimeo.Player
constructor and you’re ready to go.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/76979871" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"></iframe>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<script>
var iframe = document.querySelector('iframe');
var player = new Vimeo.Player(iframe);
player.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the video!');
});
player.getVideoTitle().then(function(title) {
console.log('title:', title);
});
</script>
You can use the library to make the embed for you. All you need is an empty element and the video id or vimeo.com url (and optional embed options).
<div id="made-in-ny"></div>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<script>
var options = {
id: 59777392,
width: 640,
loop: true
};
var player = new Vimeo.Player('made-in-ny', options);
player.setVolume(0);
player.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the video!');
});
</script>
When the library loads, it will scan your page for elements with Vimeo
attributes. Each element must have at least a data-vimeo-id
or
data-vimeo-url
attribute in order for the embed to be created automatically.
You can also add attributes for any of the embed options,
prefixed with data-vimeo
(data-vimeo-portrait="false"
, for example).
<div data-vimeo-id="19231868" data-vimeo-width="640" id="handstick"></div>
<div data-vimeo-url="https://vimeo.com/76979871" id="playertwo"></div>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<script>
// If you want to control the embeds, you’ll need to create a Player object.
// You can pass either the `<div>` or the `<iframe>` created inside the div.
var handstickPlayer = new Vimeo.Player('handstick');
handstickPlayer.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the handstick video!');
});
var playerTwoPlayer = new Vimeo.Player('playertwo');
playerTwoPlayer.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the player 2.0 video!');
});
</script>
The Player API library is supported in IE 11+, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
Using our old Froogaloop library? See the migration doc for details on how to update your code to use this library.
If you’re using a module bundler like webpack or
rollup, the exported object will be the Player
constructor (unlike the browser where it is attached to window.Vimeo
):
import Player from '@vimeo/player';
const player = new Player('handstick', {
id: 19231868,
width: 640
});
player.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the video!');
});
Similarly, if you’re using RequireJS in the browser, it will also import the Player constructor directly:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/76979871" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<script>
require(['https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js'], function (Player) {
var iframe = document.querySelector('iframe');
var player = new Player(iframe);
player.on('play', function() {
console.log('played the video!');
});
});
</script>
- Create a Player
- Methods
- on
- off
- loadVideo
- ready
- enableTextTrack
- disableTextTrack
- pause
- play
- unload
- destroy
- getAutopause
- setAutopause
- getColor
- setColor
- addCuePoint
- removeCuePoint
- getCuePoints
- getCurrentTime
- setCurrentTime
- getDuration
- getEnded
- getLoop
- setLoop
- getPaused
- getPlaybackRate
- setPlaybackRate
- getTextTracks
- getVideoEmbedCode
- getVideoId
- getVideoTitle
- getVideoWidth
- getVideoHeight
- getVideoUrl
- getVolume
- setVolume
- Events
- Embed Options
The Vimeo.Player
object wraps an iframe so you can interact with and control a
Vimeo Player embed.
If you already have a Vimeo <iframe>
on your page, pass that element into the
constructor to get a Player
object. You can also use jQuery to select the
element, or pass a string that matches the id
of the <iframe>
.
// Select with the DOM API
var iframe = document.querySelector('iframe');
var iframePlayer = new Vimeo.Player(iframe);
// Select with jQuery
// If multiple elements are selected, it will use the first element.
var jqueryPlayer = new Vimeo.Player($('iframe'));
// Select with the `<iframe>`’s id
// Assumes that there is an <iframe id="player1"> on the page.
var idPlayer = new Vimeo.Player('player1');
Pass any element and an options object to the Vimeo.Player
constructor to make
an embed inside that element. The options object should consist of either an
id
or url
and any other embed options for the embed.
<div id="made-in-ny"></div>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<script>
var options = {
id: 59777392,
width: 640,
loop: true
};
// Will create inside the made-in-ny div:
// <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/59777392?loop=1" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
var madeInNy = new Vimeo.Player('made-in-ny', options);
</script>
Embed options will also be read from the data-vimeo-*
attributes. Attributes
on the element will override any defined in the options object passed to the
constructor (similar to how the style
attribute overrides styles defined in
CSS).
Elements with a data-vimeo-id
or data-vimeo-url
attribute will have embeds
created automatically when the player API library is loaded. You can use the
data-vimeo-defer
attribute to prevent that from happening and create the embed
at a later time. This is useful for situations where the player embed wouldn’t
be visible right away, but only after some action was taken by the user (a
lightbox opened from clicking on a thumbnail, for example).
<div data-vimeo-id="59777392" data-vimeo-defer id="made-in-ny"></div>
<div data-vimeo-id="19231868" data-vimeo-defer data-vimeo-width="500" id="handstick"></div>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<script>
var options = {
width: 640,
loop: true
};
// Will create inside the made-in-ny-div:
// <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/59777392?loop=1" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
var madeInNy = new Vimeo.Player('made-in-ny', options);
// Will create inside the handstick div:
// <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/19231868?loop=1" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
var handstick = new Vimeo.Player(document.getElementById('handstick'), options);
</script>
You can call methods on the player by calling the function on the Player object:
player.play();
All methods, except for on()
and off()
return a
Promise. The Promise may
or may not resolve with a value, depending on the specific method.
player.disableTextTrack().then(function() {
// the track was disabled
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Promises for getters are resolved with the value of the property:
player.getLoop().then(function(loop) {
// whether or not the player is set to loop
});
Promises for setters are resolved with the value set, or rejected with an error if the set fails. For example:
player.setColor('#00adef').then(function(color) {
// the color that was set
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred setting the color
});
Add an event listener for the specified event. Will call the callback with a
single parameter, data
, that contains the data for that event. See
events below for details.
var onPlay = function(data) {
// data is an object containing properties specific to that event
};
player.on('play', onPlay);
Remove an event listener for the specified event. Will remove all listeners for
that event if a callback
isn’t passed, or only that specific callback if it is
passed.
var onPlay = function(data) {
// data is an object containing properties specific to that event
};
player.on('play', onPlay);
// If later on you decide that you don’t need to listen for play anymore.
player.off('play', onPlay);
// Alternatively, `off` can be called with just the event name to remove all
// listeners.
player.off('play');
Load a new video into this embed. The promise will be resolved if the video is successfully loaded, or it will be rejected if it could not be loaded.
player.loadVideo(76979871).then(function(id) {
// the video successfully loaded
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'TypeError':
// the id was not a number
break;
case 'PasswordError':
// the video is password-protected and the viewer needs to enter the
// password first
break;
case 'PrivacyError':
// the video is password-protected or private
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Trigger a function when the player iframe has initialized. You do not need to
wait for ready
to trigger to begin adding event listeners or calling other
methods.
player.ready().then(function() {
// the player is ready
});
enableTextTrack(language: string, kind?: string): Promise<object, (InvalidTrackLanguageError|InvalidTrackError|Error)>
Enable the text track with the specified language, and optionally the specified kind (captions or subtitles).
When set via the API, the track language will not change the viewer’s stored preference.
player.enableTextTrack('en').then(function(track) {
// track.language = the iso code for the language
// track.kind = 'captions' or 'subtitles'
// track.label = the human-readable label
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'InvalidTrackLanguageError':
// no track was available with the specified language
break;
case 'InvalidTrackError':
// no track was available with the specified language and kind
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Disable the currently-active text track.
player.disableTextTrack().then(function() {
// the track was disabled
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Pause the video if it’s playing.
player.pause().then(function() {
// the video was paused
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'PasswordError':
// the video is password-protected and the viewer needs to enter the
// password first
break;
case 'PrivacyError':
// the video is private
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Play the video if it’s paused. Note: on iOS and some other mobile devices, you cannot programmatically trigger play. Once the viewer has tapped on the play button in the player, however, you will be able to use this function.
player.play().then(function() {
// the video was played
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'PasswordError':
// the video is password-protected and the viewer needs to enter the
// password first
break;
case 'PrivacyError':
// the video is private
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Return the internal player (iframe) to its initial state.
player.unload().then(function() {
// the video was unloaded
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Cleanup the player and remove it from the DOM.
It won't be usable and a new one should be constructed in order to do any operations.
player.destroy().then(function() {
// the player was destroyed
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the autopause behavior for this player.
player.getAutopause().then(function(autopause) {
// autopause = whether autopause is turned on or off
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'UnsupportedError':
// Autopause is not supported with the current player or browser
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Enable or disable the autopause behavior of this player. By default, when
another video is played in the same browser, this player will automatically
pause. Unless you have a specific reason for doing so, we recommend that you
leave autopause set to the default (true
).
player.setAutopause(false).then(function(autopause) {
// autopause was turned off
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'UnsupportedError':
// Autopause is not supported with the current player or browser
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Get the color for this player.
player.getColor().then(function(color) {
// color = the hex color of the player
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Set the color of this player to a hex or rgb string. Setting the color may fail if the owner of the video has set their embed preferences to force a specific color.
player.setColor('#00adef').then(function(color) {
// color was successfully set
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'ContrastError':
// the color was set, but the contrast is outside of the acceptable
// range
break;
case 'TypeError':
// the string was not a valid hex or rgb color
break;
case 'EmbedSettingsError':
// the owner of the video has chosen to use a specific color
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Add a cue point to the player. Cue points fire a cuepoint
event when the
currentTime
of the video passes the specified time. Note: cue points should
be accurate to within a tenth of a second, but the precision may vary based on
browser or environment.
player.addCuePoint(15, {
customKey: 'customValue'
}).then(function(id) {
// cue point was added successfully
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'UnsupportedError':
// cue points are not supported with the current player or browser
break;
case 'RangeError':
// the time was less than 0 or greater than the video’s duration
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Remove the specified cue point using the id returned from addCuePoint()
or
from getCuePoints()
.
player.removeCuePoint('09ecf4e4-b587-42cf-ad9f-e666b679c9ab').then(function(id) {
// cue point was removed successfully
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'UnsupportedError':
// cue points are not supported with the current player or browser
break;
case 'InvalidCuePoint':
// a cue point with the id passed wasn’t found
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Get an array of the cue points that have been added to the video.
player.getCuePoints().then(function(cuePoints) {
// cuePoints = an array of cue point objects
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'UnsupportedError':
// cue points are not supported with the current player or browser
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Each cue point object looks like this:
{
"time": 15,
"data": {
"customKey": "customValue"
},
"id": "09ecf4e4-b587-42cf-ad9f-e666b679c9ab"
}
Get the current playback position in seconds.
player.getCurrentTime().then(function(seconds) {
// seconds = the current playback position
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Set the current playback position in seconds. Once playback has started, if the player was paused, it will remain paused. Likewise, if the player was playing, it will resume playing once the video has buffered. Setting the current time before playback has started will cause playback to start.
You can provide an accurate time and the player will attempt to seek to as close to that time as possible. The exact time will be the fulfilled value of the promise.
player.setCurrentTime(30.456).then(function(seconds) {
// seconds = the actual time that the player seeked to
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'RangeError':
// the time was less than 0 or greater than the video’s duration
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Get the duration of the video in seconds. It will be rounded to the nearest second before playback begins, and to the nearest thousandth of a second after playback begins.
player.getDuration().then(function(duration) {
// duration = the duration of the video in seconds
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the ended state of the video. The video has ended if
currentTime === duration
.
player.getEnded().then(function(ended) {
// ended = whether or not the video has ended
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the loop state of the player.
player.getLoop().then(function(loop) {
// loop = whether loop is turned on or not
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Set the loop state of the player. When set to true
, the player will start over
immediately once playback ends. Note: when loop is turned on, the ended
event will not fire.
player.setLoop(true).then(function(loop) {
// loop was turned on
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the paused state of the player.
player.getPaused().then(function(paused) {
// paused = whether or not the player is paused
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the playback rate of the player on a scale from 0.5
to 2
.
player.getPlaybackRate().then(function(playbackRate) {
// playbackRate = a numeric value of the current playback rate
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Set the playback rate of the player on a scale from 0.5
to 2
. When set
via the API, the playback rate will not be synchronized to other
players or stored as the viewer's preference.
player.setPlaybackRate(0.5).then(function(playbackRate) {
// playback rate was set
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'RangeError':
// the playback rate was less than 0.5 or greater than 2
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Get an array of the text tracks that exist for the video. For example:
player.getTextTracks().then(function(tracks) {
// tracks = an array of track objects
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Each track object looks like this:
{
"label": "English CC",
"language": "en",
"kind": "captions",
"mode": "showing"
}
Kind can be either captions
or subtitles
. The mode can be either showing
or disabled
. Only one track can be showing
at any given time; the rest will
be disabled
.
Get the <iframe>
embed code for the video.
player.getVideoEmbedCode().then(function(embedCode) {
// embedCode = <iframe> embed code
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the id of the video.
player.getVideoId().then(function(id) {
// id = the video id
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the title of the video.
player.getVideoTitle().then(function(title) {
// title = the title of the video
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the native width of the currently‐playing video. The width of the highest resolution available will be used before playback begins.
player.getVideoWidth().then(function(width) {
// width = the width of the video that is currently playing
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Get the native height of the currently‐playing video. The height of the highest resolution available will be used before playback begins.
player.getVideoHeight().then(function(height) {
// height = the height of the video that is currently playing
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
To get both the width and height, you can do this:
Promise.all([player.getVideoWidth(), player.getVideoHeight()]).then(function(dimensions) {
var width = dimensions[0];
var height = dimensions[1];
});
Get the vimeo.com url for the video.
player.getVideoUrl().then(function(url) {
// url = the vimeo.com url for the video
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'PrivacyError':
// the url isn’t available because of the video’s privacy setting
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
Get the current volume level of the player on a scale from 0
to 1
.
Most mobile devices do not support an independent volume from the system volume.
In those cases, this method will always return 1
.
player.getVolume().then(function(volume) {
// volume = the volume level of the player
}).catch(function(error) {
// an error occurred
});
Set the volume of the player on a scale from 0
to 1
. When set via the API,
the volume level will not be synchronized to other players or stored as the
viewer’s preference.
Most mobile devices (including iOS and Android) do not support setting the volume because the volume is controlled at the system level. An error will not be triggered in that situation.
player.setVolume(0.5).then(function(volume) {
// volume was set
}).catch(function(error) {
switch (error.name) {
case 'RangeError':
// the volume was less than 0 or greater than 1
break;
default:
// some other error occurred
break;
}
});
You can listen for events in the player by attaching a callback using .on()
:
player.on('eventName', function(data) {
// data is an object containing properties specific to that event
});
The events are equivalent to the HTML5 video events (except for cuechange
,
which is slightly different).
To remove a listener, call .off()
with the callback function:
var callback = function() {};
player.off('eventName', callback);
If you pass only an event name, all listeners for that event will be removed.
Triggered when the video plays.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 0
seconds: 0
}
Triggered when the video pauses.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 0
seconds: 0
}
Triggered any time the video playback reaches the end. Note: when loop is
turned on, the ended
event will not fire.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 1
seconds: 61.857
}
Triggered as the currentTime
of the video updates. It generally fires every
250ms, but it may vary depending on the browser.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 0.049
seconds: 3.034
}
Triggered as the video is loaded. Reports back the amount of the video that has been buffered.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 0.502
seconds: 31.052
}
Triggered when the player seeks to a specific time. A timeupdate
event will
also be fired at the same time.
{
duration: 61.857
percent: 0.485
seconds: 30
}
Triggered when the active text track (captions/subtitles) changes. The values will be null if text tracks are turned off.
{
kind: "captions",
label: "English CC",
language: "en"
}
Triggered when the active cue for the current text track changes. It also fires when the active text track changes. There may be multiple cues active.
{
cues: [
{
html: "<i>Here at Vimeo, there's always <br>one thing on our minds:</i>",
text: "<i>Here at Vimeo, there's always ↵one thing on our minds:</i>"
}
],
kind: "captions",
label: "English CC",
language: "en"
}
The text
property of each cue is the raw value parsed from the caption or
subtitle file. The html
property contains the HTML that the Player renders for
that cue.
Triggered when the current time hits a registered cue point.
{
time: 15,
data: {
customKey: 'customValue'
},
id: "40f5722b-09aa-4060-a887-3c81aaa37cce"
}
The data
property will be the custom data provided in the addCuePoint()
call, or an empty object if none was provided.
Triggered when the volume in the player changes. Some devices do not support setting the volume of the video independently from the system volume, so this event will never fire on those devices.
{
volume: 0.5
}
Triggered when the playback rate of the video in the player changes. The ability to change rate can be disabled by the creator and the event will not fire for those videos. The new playback rate is returned with the event.
{
playbackRate: 1.5
}
Triggered when buffering starts in the player. This is also triggered during preload and while seeking. There is no associated data with this event.
Triggered when buffering ends in the player. This is also triggered at the end of preload and seeking. There is no associated data with this event.
Triggered when some kind of error is generated in the player. In general if you
are using this API library, you should use .catch()
on each method call
instead of globally listening for error events.
If the error was generated from a method call, the name of that method will be included.
{
message: "#984220 does not meet minimum contrast ratio. We recommend using brighter colors. (You could try #d35e30 instead.) See WCAG 2.0 guidelines: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#visual-audio-contrast"
method: "setColor"
name: "ContrastError"
}
Triggered when a new video is loaded in the player.
{
id: 76979871
}
These options are available to use as data-vimeo-
attributes on elements or as
an object passed to the Vimeo.Player
constructor.
option | default | description |
---|---|---|
id or url | Required. Either the id or the url of the video. | |
autopause | true |
Pause this video automatically when another one plays. |
autoplay | false |
Automatically start playback of the video. Note that this won’t work on some devices. |
background | false |
Enable the player's background mode which hides the controls, autoplays and loops the video. |
byline | true |
Show the byline on the video. |
color | 00adef |
Specify the color of the video controls. Colors may be overridden by the embed settings of the video. |
height | The exact height of the video. Defaults to the height of the largest available version of the video. | |
loop | false |
Play the video again when it reaches the end. |
maxheight | Same as height, but video will not exceed the native size of the video. | |
maxwidth | Same as width, but video will not exceed the native size of the video. | |
muted | false |
Mute this video on load. Required to autoplay in certain browsers. |
playsinline | true |
Play video inline on mobile devices, to automatically go fullscreen on playback set this parameter to false . |
portrait | true |
Show the portrait on the video. |
speed | false |
Show the speed controls in the preferences menu and enable playback rate API. |
title | true |
Show the title on the video. |
transparent | true |
The responsive player and transparent background are enabled by default, to disable set this parameter to false . |
width | The exact width of the video. Defaults to the width of the largest available version of the video. |