Automated player localization

Automated localization is a web player feature that creates a seamless and immersive viewer experience by automatically translating text added by the player, such as tooltips, error messages, menu items, and ARIA labels into the same language as your page content. Without adding code to your pages or configuring settings in the dashboard, this feature provides you the following benefits:

Automatic language detection creates continuity by translating player text to match the language on the page
Saves time with built-in player text translations in major languages
Ability to embed the same player in pages with content in different languages

How it works

When the player is setting up, it decides its localization language. The majority of the time, it uses the language defined in the HTML5 lang attribute on your page. If that attribute is missing, it will detect the language set in the viewer's browser settings, which is often inherited from their operating system. In the rare event that no language cannot be determined, English will be used.

Once the language is determined, the player will automatically use a built-in translation if one for that language is available (English is used otherwise). When the localization language uses a four-letter code to denote a specific country or dialect, the player will automatically fall back to a two-letter translation if the sublanguage is not available. For example, if French (Canada) - fr-ca is the language, and there is no built-in translation for it, the player will use a built-in French (Standard) - fr instead.

Later in this article, we describe how you can customize or override the built-in translations or provide full translations for additional languages.

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You must be using either cloud-hosted or self-hosted JWP 8.6.0+. This feature does not translate captions, media titles, media descriptions, or audio.

Supported languages

Automated player localization supports the languages listed below.

Unless noted, the translations listed use the standard dialect or the dialect most closely associated with the country of origin. For example, Dutch (nl) is the standard Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands, rather than in Belgium.


Arabic (ar) ¹	Chinese (zh) ¹	Danish (da)
Dutch (nl)	English (en) ²	Finnish (fi) ^8.8.0+
French (fr)	German (de)	Greek (el) ^8.11.0+
Hebrew (he) ^8.7.0+	Indonesian (id) ^8.8.0+	Italian (it)
Japanese (ja)	Korean (ko) ^8.8.0+	Norwegian (no)
Occitan (oc) ^8.8.6+	Portuguese (pt) ²	Romanian (ro)
Russian (ru) ^8.8.0+	Slovenian (sl) ^8.8.6+	Spanish (es) ²
Swedish (sv)	Thai (th) ^8.8.0+	Turkish (tr)
Vietnamese (vi) ^8.8.0+

¹ This Arabic translation is Modern Arabic. This Chinese translation is Simplified Chinese.
² For the following languages, the standard (two-letter, non-dialect specific) translation is a specific dialect translation: English (en) - American English, Portuguese (pt) - Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish (es) - Latin American Spanish

Customization

You can expand the capabilities of automated player localization by adding multiple new languages and custom translations of specific words.

If you add or customize a translation, automatic player localization prioritizes translations using the following hierarchy:

Regional language translations
Customized and new general language translations
Default language translations
English

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If you previously used the localization object to customize the player text and ARIA labels, this feature will not change any of your customizations. However, to benefit from automatic language detection and multiple language support in a single player, you must make all player text customizations in the intl object.

Adding a new language

If your website is in a language that is not listed in the table above, you have two options:

Use the feedback form above to request a new translation.
If you are a developer or have developer resources, add a new language translation object to the intl object of the player code.

Customizing specific words

If you are a developer or have developer resources, you can customize specific words that are associated with your brand or that resonate with your regional viewers. For instance, you might replace Replay, the default tooltip text for the replay icon in the control bar, with Watch Again. Similarly, you might replace the default Dutch translation of Loading ad, Reclame laden, with the regional Frisian translation, Advertinsje lade.

The intl object documentation lists all configurable properties. If you need to transfer existing localization object settings to the intl object, please refer to this property comparison table.

FAQs

How do I enable automated player localization?

Without placing additional code on your pages, JW Player 8.6.0+ automatically localizes player text and ARIA labels.

If you have developer resources, you can use the intl object to add a new set of player translations or to customize specific text.

What do I do if my player is not automatically translating?

Automated player localization uses the lang attribute of the HTML element to select the language used to translate the player text and ARIA labels. If the player text and ARIA labels are not translated into the language you expect, check the following items:

Verify the HTML lang attribute is not undefined. If the HTML lang attribute of a page has not been defined (), the player text and ARIA labels will appear in the language defined in your browser settings.
Verify the HTML lang attribute is defined as the correct language. If the HTML lang attribute of a page has been defined incorrectly, the player text and ARIA labels will be translated into the incorrect language. For example, a French page could have the following language definition: .
Verify that the language is supported. If the language attribute is correctly defined, the defined language may not be supported. Check this list of supported languages.

If you still have translation issues, please Submit a Support Case.