HTML5 video (mp4 and ogv) problems in Safari and Firefox - but Chrome is all good

Question

I have the following code:

<video width="640" height="360" controls id="video-player" poster="/movies/poster.png">
 <source src="/movies/640x360.m4v" type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.42E01E, mp4a.40.2"'>
 <source src="/movies/640x360.ogv" type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"'> 
</video>

• I'm using Rails (Mongrel in development and Mongrel+Apache in production).
• Chrome (Mac and Win) can play either file (tested by one then the other source tags) whether locally or from my production servers.
• Safari (Mac and Win) can play the mp4 file fine locally but not from production.
• Firefox 3.6 won't play the video in either OS. I just get a grey cross in the middle of the video player area.
• I've made sure that both Mongrel and Apache in each case have the right MIME types set.
• From Chrome's results I know there is nothing inherently wrong with my video files or the way the files are being asked for or delivered.

For Firefox I looked at https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Using_audio_and_video_in_Firefox where it refers to an 'error' event and an 'error' attribute. It seems the 'error' event is thrown pretty well straightaway and at that time there is no error attribute. Does anyone know how to diagnose the problem?

Solution 1

The HTTP Content-Type for .ogg should be application/ogg (video/ogg for .ogv) and for .mp4 it should be video/mp4. You can check using the Web Sniffer.

Solution 2

Add these lines in your .htaccess file and it will work for all browsers. Works for me.

AddType video/ogg .ogv
AddType video/mp4 .mp4
AddType video/webm .webm

If you dun have .htaccess file in your site then create new one :) its obvious i guess.

Solution 3

Incidentally, .ogv files are video, so "video/ogg", .ogg files are Vorbis audio, so "audio/ogg" and .oga files are general Ogg audio, so also "audio/ogg". Checked in Firefox and work. "application/ogg" is deprecated for all audio or video uses. See http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5334.txt

Comments

[qryss]

Thanks, bogdanvursu. Much appreciated. I'm afraid neither suggestion helped, though. :(

[Precious George]

If the outer quotes are double quotes, you need to escape the inner quotes as ". If the outer quotes are single quotes, you don't need to escape inner double quotes.

[qryss]

Aha. I checked that using Web Sniffer and I'm getting the Content-type as application/octet-stream. So for Firefox anyway it's looking like a MIME type problem. Thank you - I shall see if I can fix it from here. There's still the problem with Safari, though... :(

[qryss]

I had an Apache misconfiguration and the Firefox problem was indeed due to the wrong MIME types being sent. Thank you!

[qryss]

I have now also found my Safari problem - another misconfiguration. All problems resolved! Thanks, guys.

[HandiworkNYC.com]

the inner quotes were necessary

[Admin]

@hsivonen So what exactly is your resulting video tag to remedy the issue with firefox and safari? Why post that you fixed the problem if you don't bother to describe how?

[Nathan Rambeck]

The solution, if you are using Apache is to use an configure Apache to send the correct Mime types, or simply use an .htaccess file with the following line: AddType video/ogg .ogv

[John]

NOT TRUE ogg is not supported by IE

[Nagama Inamdar]

sadly it didn't work for me.I was trying for m4v videos.Can you please suggest for them as like for .ogv .mp4 .webm

[A F]

@NJInamdar use AddType video/mp4 .mp4 .m4v for the second line

[Nagama Inamdar]

@AakilFernandes:Thanks for the reply.but sadly it didn't work. :(

[Chris GW Green]

Solved my problem. Thanks very much.