Flowplayer platform

API

Acronym for Application Programming Interface , a toolset and interface for automated creation, retrieval and update of media files and metadata in the platform.

analytics

see also engagement, plays, displays

clip

Synonym for a feature video or audio regardless of format

displays (analytics)

The event when a player is rendered (shown) on a webpage. If the player is not set to autoplay this is not counted as a play.

encoding

also with link to video encoding

engagement

[tbd]

live

[tbd]

livesource

[tbd]

livestreamid

[tbd]

mediaid

Generic name for all ids related to your content. See videoid, playlistid, livestreamid.

organization

synonym for sitegroup

OVP

Acronym for Online Video Platform which means the whole flowplayer.com video encoding, hosting, streaming, analytics and management ecosystem.

player design / configuration

For ease also just called player; a set of configuration options defined at https://app.flowplayer.com/players/ which determine appearance and behavior.

playerid

The alphanumeric id of the player design, used for example in the async platform embed codes like <div data-player-id="2a373c6f-466a-451c-bcd3-4c4c57e21e6f"> or in Javascript embeds using the platform integration plugin.

playlist

A sequence of feature clips which will be played back one after the other, optionally giving the viewer the choice to skip elements or select from a visual representation of the individual clips.

playlistid

The alphanumeric identifier of your playlist used in embed codes like "src": "8555a951-922c-43d1-af6a-b91d00e3a3b6". In the platform user interface you'd access a specific playlist with an url like https://app.flowplayer.com/playlists/8555a951-922c-43d1-af6a-b91d00e3a3b6

plays (analytics)

The event when a rendered player starts playing a clip or ad preroll. If the player is set to autoplay this happens on page load, otherwise it will happen when the viewer clicks/taps "play".

sitegroup

Identifies your organization in the platform

sitegroupid

The alphanumerical id representing your sitegroup (organization), it will look like 12a3b456-c7d8-1111-ef23-4f7890c1234a

siteid

see workspace id

storage

The combined volume your files take up on our servers. This includes all originals, encoded formats (for HLS and DASH the summarized size of all encoded variants), thumbnail and poster images as well as subtitle or other text files

streaming

The process of delivering video content from our storage to your audience, usually distributed through a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to keep latency low. The amunt of data transmitted is reflected in your usage costs-.

userid

A unique id for your user account which is tied to your email address.

videoid

The alaphanumeric identifier of your video clip used in embed codes as "src": "8555a951-922c-43d1-af6a-b91d00e3a3b6". In the platform user interface you'd access a specific video with an url like https://app.flowplayer.com/videos/8555a951-922c-43d1-af6a-b91d00e3a3b6

VOD

Acronym for Video On Demand, referring to video recordings with a definite duration and infinite playback/resume as opposed to a live stream.

workspace

A named division inside a sitegroup which can have individual defaults and access rights. Useful for large organizations or media publishers who want to distinguish their clients.

workspaceid

A unique id for your workspace/site.

Advertising

adPod

A sequence of ads grouped together in the VAST XML which will be displayed one after the other in a single ad break. Can be scheduled in pre-, mid- and post-roll positions.

adSchdeule

[tbd]

adTag

A VAST XML url (usually hosted by an ad server network) containing ad creative(s) and tracking information.

in-stream

[tbd]

linear

[tbd]

midroll

An ad which plays between start and end of a feature clip; often implemented as a text or image overlay to avoid stream interruption.

non-linear

[tbd]

overlays

[tbd]

postroll

An ad which is shown after a feature clip or livestream.

preroll

An ad which is shown before a feature clip or livestream starts.

skippable

An ad which can be stopped and skipped by the viewer after a pre-defined time (or watched until the end, after which it self-terminates).

VAST

Acronym for Video Ad Serving Template

VMAP

[tbd]

VPAID

[tbd]

Flowplayer Native player

async player

The [cloud configured player](/player/embedding#using-cloud-hosted-js-embed embed scripts are loaded asynchronously

casting

[tbd]

DRM

Acronym for Digital Rights Management [expand info]

FAS

Acronym for Frame Accurate Seeking [expand info]

first-frame

The first image of a video clip. This is usually shown when no poster or initial background is configured. Requries preloading of the video metadata as well the first segment or part of the file/stream.

float on scroll

A technology which will move a playing video (usually) to the bottom left or right of a page once a visior scrolls beyond.

fast forward

Playback of a video with increased (also often used for slower) speed.

metadata

[tbd]

Picture in Picture

[see float on scroll]

plugins

Player modules which add specific features to the core video player, incl. several analytics packages, sharing and casting, audio and quality selection. For a list please see https://flowplayer.com/developers/plugins

poster

The image (if configured) shown on a player before playback starts. Contrary to a first-frame setup, the video doesn't have to be preloaded to show an image.

preload

[tbd]

seeking

For monolithic MP4 videos this requires accessing a portion of the file through byte-range requests (determined by the metadata in the MOOV atom), in HLS or DASH streams the correct segment file determined by the information in the manifest will be loaded.

skipping

The act of skipping forth or back through a video to a specific time.

sync player

The [standalone Javascript player](/player/embedding#use-java-script-based is loaded synchronously

Video encoding and format details

aspect ratio

The ratio (proportions) of a video, usually expressed as [width]:[height] like 16:10. Can also be shown as a decimal fraction like 1.6

bitrate

todo: variable vs. fixed

codec

[tbd]

container

A container is a file format which can contain several data streams along with metadata, for example different video and audio encodings. MP4 is a prime example of a container which can hold MPEG-4 part 10 or part 2 encoded (h264 or h263) video streams as well as mp3 or aac audio streams. See Wikipedia article for further information.

DASH

[tbd]

frame rate

[tbd]

h264

[tbd]

h265

[tbd]

HLS

[tbd]

m3u8

see manifestmanifest

mpd

see manifest

keyframes

[tbd]

manifest

[tbd]

MOOV atom

The MOOV atom stores the metadata of MPEG-4 videos like duration and frame rate. Desktop encoders often place it at the end of a video file which can result in slow start of longer videos on the web. It should therefore be positioned at the beginning of a video.

MP4

A widely used container format for videos; for html5 video it should contain MPEG-4 part 10 video and MPEG-4 audio tracks

MPEG-4

[tbd]

MPEG-DASH

[tbd]

playlist

see manifest (in this case)

VP8

[tbd]

VP9

[tbd]

webm

[tbd]

API

[tbd]

endpoint

[tbd]

Development

AMP

Accelerated mobile pages, a web development framework intended to create fast loading mobile optimized content Link: https://amp.dev/

angular

[tbd]

Android SDK

[tbd]

iOS SDK

[tbd]

nodejs

[tbd]

OTT

[tbd]

react

[tbd]

SDK

[tbd]

smart tv

families:

SPA

single page application

vuejs

[tbd]

[MINITOC]