Add preview thumbnails (iOS)

The SDKs support the loading of preview thumbnails for individual shots or scenes in a video. These thumbnails are displayed in a tooltip when a viewer hovers the control bar.

You can define your preview thumbnails in a single .vtt file. Set the .vtt file with JWThumbnailTrackBuilder(), which creates a JWMediaTrack. You can then set the JWMediaTrack with JWPlayerItemBuilder().

For an optimal user experience, the thumbnails should adhere to the following:

• URLs must point to individual thumbnail files (filename.jpg) or to the spacial media fragment (filename.jpg#xywh=0,0,120,90) in a thumbnail sprite.
• URLs must be relative to the .vtt file
• Thumbnail width of 100-150 px

WEBVTT

00:00.000 --> 00:02.000
5s2afBXZ-120.jpg#xywh=0,0,120,90

00:02.000 --> 00:05.005
5s2afBXZ-120.jpg#xywh=120,0,120,90

WEBVTT

00:00.000 --> 00:02.000
scene1_0.jpg

00:02.000 --> 00:05.005
scene1_1.jpg

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When a media asset is uploaded to your JWP account, a thumbnail track file is created as part of the transcoding process. So, instead of creating a new .vtt file for a video asset, you can copy the URL of the thumbnail track file from your JWP dashboard.

To locate the thumbnail track of a specific video asset, follow these steps:

1. Click the name of the video in your JWP dashboard Media Library.
2. Under Media Summary, click the View Assets.
3. On the Tracks tab in the Thumbnail Preview row, click ∨ to reveal the DIRECT URL.
4. Copy the DIRECT URL.
5. Click Close.

Add a preview thumbnail

Use the following recipes to associate a preview thumbnail with a player item.