{"id":2971,"date":"2014-12-04T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jwplayer.com\/introducing-jw-player-6-11-industry-leading-hls\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T04:36:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:36:24","slug":"introducing-jw-player-6-11-industry-leading-hls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwplayer.com\/blog\/introducing-jw-player-6-11-industry-leading-hls\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing JW Player 6.11 \u2013 Industry Leading HLS"},"content":{"rendered":"
JW Player 6.11 is now available across all of our platforms. This release dramatically improves HLS functionality and supports new features from Apple\u2019s latest specification. With 6.11, any site that uses JW Player gains access to premium video player functionality typically only available from services like Netflix, Hulu+, and Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n
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In addition to feature upgrades we did some serious under-the-hood maintenance that improves HLS video streaming startup speed, seek accuracy, and speed to playback after seeking. Since speed is the number one priority when trying to watch online video, each of these optimizations make the experience more natural, boosting engagement, and helping to prevent a viewer from getting bored and dropping off.<\/p>\n
Our new HLS implementation provides the ability to have multiple audio tracks, embedded WebVTT captions, and will bubble up ID3 metadata embedded within streams. We are also supporting new tags that makes adaptive switching during live events more accurate.<\/p>\n
JW Player is the only independent video player that supports multiple audio tracks. This functionality seamlessly stitches together separate audio tracks into the video stream. It allows viewers to easily toggle between the audio tracks that they want to hear. Our new audio tracks icon appears in the control bar whenever we detect multiple audio streams. This icon is available in all of our premium skins.<\/p>\n
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You can use multiple audio tracks to:<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the use of multiple audio tracks results in lower hosting costs by not requiring multiple video tracks to support your audio needs.<\/p>\n
For better viewing experience, we will also detect the default language of a viewer\u2019s machine and automatically choose a matching audio stream of that language. International viewers will get the language they want right away, without any extra clicks.<\/p>\n
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In Protocol 5, Apple introduced the ability to specify WebVTT subtitle tracks directly within an HLS manifest playlist. This allows you to be able to use the same subtitle tracks on desktop that you are providing your viewers on iOS. The JW Player will parse the files out of the manifest and display them in the closed captions menu. Providing 608 captions and WebVTT? Don\u2019t worry — we will use the WebVTT over the 608 embedded captions since they are likely more accurate.<\/p>\n