Enable casting and AirPlay

JW Player is Google Cast and AirPlay ready in all editions. This document will cover the functionality currently available and walk through how to set up a JWP for casting.



Casting enables a viewer to use Google Cast or Apple AirPlay technologies to stream video and audio content to a compatible TV or sound system. By enabling the casting feature for a player, a viewer can tap an icon in the control bar to stream your content on a cast-compatible device on the same network. If no compatible device is detected by the player, no cast icon appears.



Enable the feature

Use the following steps to enable this feature in your dashboard for an embedded HTML5 web player.

πŸ”‘

If you are a developer or have developer resources, use the cast property to enable this feature for an embedded HTML5 JWP.

To enable casting for a JWP in your mobile app, configure the Android SDK or iOS SDK directly.



  1. From your list of players in your JWP dashboard, click the name of the player that you want to configure.
  2. In the Casting section of the SETUP tab, click the toggle to ON.


Casting compatibility

This table shows the browser-platform combinations that support AirPlay and Chromecast functionality.

Casting applicationBrowserOperating systems
AirPlaySafariiOS, macOS
Chromecast*ChromeAndroid, macOS, Windows (desktop)

*Chrome 72+ requires that the video be delivered via Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https://).



FAQs

Which file types are supported with casting?

The following file type are supported in the JW Player Casting implementation: .aac, .dash, .m3u8, .mp3, .mp4, .webm.

The following table shows supported formats, organized by medium.

MediumFile Types
Audioβ€’ .aac
β€’ .mp3
Videoβ€’ .mp4
β€’ .webm
Streamingβ€’ .dash (non-VP9-encoded)
β€’ .m3u8

Are any player features disabled during a casting session?

Yes. Below are lists of features that are disabled during a casting session on Apple AirPlay and Google Cast devices.

TechnologyFeature
Apple AirPlayβ€’ Advertising
β€’ Quality toggling
β€’ Multiple-audio tracks
β€’ Side-loaded captions
Google Castβ€’ Advertising
β€’ Quality toggling
β€’ Multiple-audio tracks

Why doesn't casting work from an http:// URL in a Chrome browser?

As of Google Chrome 72, both a page and a stream must use the https:// protocol. When casting is not supported, the casting button is not present in the HTML5 player.