HTML5 video tag not supported in Safari 5.1 on Windows 7?

Question

When investigating the HTML5 video tag, I stumbled across this w3schools page.

In Chrome, IE11 and FF the video in this page plays perfectly.

In Safari, I get this message in place of the video:

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

And yet in the Browser Support section, Safari is listed as Supported.

Is there an issue with the video tag in Safari?

Solution

In order to get HTML5 videos to play through Safari on Windows, you need to install Quicktime.

I did this and the videos would still not work.

But, once I restarted my machine, everything worked as it was supposed to!

Comments

[Tyson]

Is safari up to date? Are you using a full version or mobile version? I just played the example on the w3schools page in safari.

[Daft]

@Tyson I actually uninstalled it and installed it again so I'm up to date. In the desktop version. I'm on windows and I have Quicktime downloaded.

[Tyson]

Only thing I can add was I was using windows 7. Seems to work for me.

[Daft]

@Tyson I'm using windows 7 too... ugh

[Daft]

@Tyson I'm on Safari 5.1.7. Any idea what you're on?

[Tyson]

Actually this is weird... I am out of date, it shows as 5.1.7

[Daft]

@Tyson no ur good, I read the wrong number, we have the same version.

[Daft]

@Tyson I restarted my machine and it's working fine now. I obviously needed to install Quicktime and restart my machine for it to take effect in Safari.

[Spiff]

It's worth pointing out that Apple discontinued Safari for Windows in 2011. The current version of "desktop" Safari is 8.0.2 (but it's only for Mac). I'm not sure what the point of running Safari for Windows is anymore, not even for browser testing your website, because the fraction of your visitors running Safari for Windows must be a tiny tiny fraction of a percent.