YouTube Embedded Player Parameters

All of the following parameters are optional. The list shows parameters supported in any YouTube embedded player. You can customize the list using the pulldown menu below. Note that these parameters are only officially supported by the embedded player, but a subset of them may work with other players such as the playlist player or the custom player.


Note: IFrame embeds can load either the HTML5 player or the AS3 player. Though some parameters are not supported in both players, an IFrame embed that loads the AS3 player will support all parameters that work with that player and ignore all other parameters. Similarly, an IFrame embed that loads the HTML5 player will support all parameters that work with that player while ignoring all other parameters.


For example, the HTML5 player does not currently support the cc_load_policy parameter, but you can still specify that parameter when creating an IFrame embed. If the embed loads the AS3 player, the player will support the parameter, and if the embed loads the HTML5 player, the player will ignore it.

All YouTube player parameters

autohide

Values: 0, 1, and 2 (default). This parameter indicates whether the video controls will automatically hide after a video begins playing. The default behavior is for the video progress bar to fade out while the player controls (play button, volume control, etc.) remain visible.

• If this parameter is set to 0, the video progress bar and the video player controls will be visible throughout the video.
• If this parameter is set to 1, then the video progress bar and the player controls will slide out of view a couple of seconds after the video starts playing. They will only reappear if the user moves her mouse over the video player or presses a key on her keyboard.

autoplay

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Sets whether or not the initial video will autoplay when the player loads.

border

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables a border around the entire video player. The border's primary color can be set via the color1 parameter, and a secondary color can be set by the color2 parameter.

cc_load_policy

Values: 1. Default is based on user preference. Setting to 1 will cause closed captions to be shown by default, even if the user has turned captions off.

color

This parameter specifies the color that will be used in the player's video progress bar to highlight the amount of the video that the viewer has already seen. Valid parameter values are red and white, and, by default, the player will use the color red in the video progress bar. See the YouTube API blog for more information about color options. Note: This parameter is supported in the AS3 embedded player and in IFrame embeds that load the AS3 player. (IFrame embeds could also load the HTML5 player.) However, using the color parameter will disable the modestbranding option in the embedded player.

color1, color2

Values: Any RGB value in hexadecimal format. color1 is the primary border color, and color2 is the video control bar background color and secondary border color.

controls

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. This parameter indicates whether the video player controls will display. If this parameter is set to 0, then the player controls will not display, causing the player to look like the chromeless player.

disablekb

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 will disable the player keyboard controls. Keyboard controls are as follows:      Spacebar: Play / Pause      Arrow Left: Jump back 10% in the current video      Arrow Right: Jump ahead 10% in the current video      Arrow Up: Volume up      Arrow Down: Volume Down

egm

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables the "Enhanced Genie Menu". This behavior causes the genie menu (if present) to appear when the user's mouse enters the video display area, as opposed to only appearing when the menu button is pressed. Note: This parameter is not supported in the AS3 embedded player.

enablejsapi

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting this to 1 will enable the Javascript API. For more information on the Javascript API and how to use it, see the JavaScript API documentation.

fs

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables the fullscreen button in the embedded player and does not affect the chromeless player. The fullscreen option will not work if you load the YouTube player into another SWF. Note that you must include some extra arguments to your embed code for this to work. The bold text in the following example is required to enable fullscreen functionality:

<object width="425" height="344">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?fs=1"</param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?fs=1"
  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
  allowfullscreen="true"
  allowscriptaccess="always"
  width="425" height="344">
</embed>
</object>

hd

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables HD playback by default. This has no effect on the Chromeless Player. This also has no effect if an HD version of the video is not available. If you enable this option, keep in mind that users with a slower connection may have an sub-optimal experience unless they turn off HD. You should ensure your player is large enough to display the video in its native resolution. Note: The AS3 player will automatically play the version of the video that is appropriate for your player's size. If an HD version of a video is available in the AS3 player and that is the appropriate version for your player, then that is the version that will play.

iv_load_policy

Values: 1 or 3. Default is 1. Setting to 1 will cause video annotations to be shown by default, whereas setting to 3 will cause video annotation to not be shown by default.

loop

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. In the case of a single video player, a setting of 1 will cause the player to play the initial video again and again. In the case of a playlist player (or custom player), the player will play the entire playlist and then start again at the first video. Note: This parameter has limited support in the AS3 player and in IFrame embeds, which could load either the AS3 or HTML5 player. Currently, the loopparameter only works in the AS3 player when used in conjunction with the playlist parameter. To loop a single video, set the loop parameter value to 1 and set the playlist parameter value to the same video ID already specified in the Player API URL:

http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3&loop=1&playlist=VIDEO_ID

modestbranding

This parameter lets you use a YouTube player that does not show a YouTube logo. Set the parameter value to 1 to prevent the YouTube logo from displaying in the control bar. Note that a small YouTube text label will still display in the upper-right corner of a paused video when the user's mouse pointer hovers over the player. Note: This parameter is supported in the AS3 embedded player and in IFrame embeds that load the AS3 player. (IFrame embeds could also load the HTML5 player.)

origin

This parameter provides an extra security measure for the IFrame API and is only supported for IFrame embeds. If you are using the IFrame API, which means you are setting the enablejsapi parameter value to 1, you should always specify your domain as the origin parameter value.

playerapiid

Value can be any alphanumeric string. This setting is used in conjunction with the JavaScript API. See the JavaScript API documentation for details.

playlist

Value is a comma-separated list of video IDs to play. If you specify a value, the first video that plays will be the VIDEO_ID specified in the URL path, and the videos specified in the playlist parameter will play thereafter.

rel

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. Sets whether the player should load related videos once playback of the initial video starts. Related videos are displayed in the "genie menu" when the menu button is pressed. The player search functionality will be disabled if rel is set to 0.

showinfo

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. Setting to 0 causes the player to not display information like the video title and uploader before the video starts playing.

showsearch

Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. Setting to 0 disables the search box from displaying when the video is minimized. Note that if the rel parameter is set to 0 then the search box will also be disabled, regardless of the value of showsearch.

start

Values: A positive integer. This parameter causes the player to begin playing the video at the given number of seconds from the start of the video. Note that similar to the seekTo function, the player will look for the closest keyframe to the time you specify. This means sometimes the play head may seek to just before the requested time, usually no more than ~2 seconds.

theme

This parameter indicates whether the embedded player will display player controls (like a 'play' button or volume control) within a dark or light control bar. Valid parameter values are dark and light, and, by default, the player will display player controls using the dark theme.

Example Usage

AS3 and AS2 players – Append the parameters to the end of the YouTube video SWF URL for the AS2 or AS3 players. The SWF URL has one of the following formats:The following instructions explain how to use the parameters above:

• • Embedded AS3 player:
    

    http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3

  • Chromeless AS3 player:
    

    http://www.youtube.com/apiplayer?video_id=VIDEO_ID&version=3

  • Embedded AS2 player:
    

    http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID

  • Chromeless AS2 player:
    

    http://www.youtube.com/apiplayer?video_id=VIDEO_ID

  Note: The AS2 Player API has been deprecated.
• HTML5 player (IFrame embeds) – Select one of the following options. Both are explained in more detail in the Loading a video player section of the IFrame Player API documentation.
  • The second parameter in the constructor for the video player is an object that specifies player options. The parameter's playerVars property is an object that identifies player parameters.
  • If you create the <iframe> element for your video player yourself (rather than having the JavaScript code create it), you can append player parameters directly to the end of the URL. The URL has the following format:

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/JW5meKfy3fY

If you are using the YouTube Data API, you can programmatically construct these URLs by retrieving the <yt:videoid> tag value in an API entry and replacing the VIDEO_ID text in the URLs above with that value. You should also confirm that the feed entry for the video contains a <media:content> tag for which the value of the yt:format attribute is 5. The absence of that tag indicates that the video owner had disabled embedding for the video.

<entry>
   ...
   <media:group>
     <media:content url="http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" medium="video" 
          isDefault="true" expression="full" duration="100" yt:format="5"/>
    ...
    <yt:videoid>VIDEO_ID</yt:videoid>
  </media:group>
  ...
<entry>

The following example uses the autohide and showinfo parameters to prevent video information from displaying at the top of the player before the video starts playing and to automatically hide the player controls after the video starts playing:

<object width="425" height="355">
  <param name="movie"
         value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?version=3&autohide=1&showinfo=0"></param>
  <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param>
  <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?version=3&autohide=1&showinfo=0"
         type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
         allowscriptaccess="always"
         width="425" height="355"></embed>
</object>