Video fit

When the player and the video have different aspect ratios, you can choose how the video fits inside the player. These examples use a 21:9 player for a 16:9 video. Switch between the values of the CSS object-fit property to see the difference:

• contain (default) shows the whole video, with black bars on the sides.
• cover fills the player, cutting off the top and bottom of the video.
• fill fills the player by stretching the video.

Open Video UI

Tip: open your browser's developer console and use the player and THEOplayer variables to interact with this demo.

Set the --theoplayer-video-object-fit CSS custom property on the UI. --theoplayer-aspect-ratio sets the shape of the player itself.

theoplayer-default-ui {
  --theoplayer-aspect-ratio: 21 / 9;
  --theoplayer-video-object-fit: cover;
}

Code

demo.html

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <title>Video fit</title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover" />
    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com" />
    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin />
    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Noto+Sans:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400;1,700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet" />
    <style>
      html,
      body {
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
        font-family: 'Noto Sans', sans-serif;
      }

      theoplayer-default-ui:not(:defined) {
        display: inline-block;
        box-sizing: border-box;
      }

      theoplayer-default-ui {
        width: 100%;
        font-family: 'Noto Sans', sans-serif;
        background: #000;
        /* Make the player wider than the 16:9 video, so the effect of each fit is visible. */
        --theoplayer-aspect-ratio: 21 / 9;
        /* How the video fits inside the player: contain (default), cover or fill. */
        --theoplayer-video-object-fit: contain;
      }
    </style>
    <script src="https://cdn.theoplayer.com/dash/theoplayer/THEOplayer.js"></script>
    <script nomodule src="https://unpkg.com/@theoplayer/web-ui@2/polyfills"></script>
    <script async src="https://unpkg.com/@theoplayer/web-ui@2"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <!--
      libraryLocation: For demonstration purposes, we use the THEOplayer CDN.
      For production use, host the library yourself and update this URL and the script above.

      licenseUrl: Point this to your license file, or replace it with a license property.
    -->
    <theoplayer-default-ui
      configuration='{"libraryLocation":"https://cdn.theoplayer.com/dash/theoplayer/","licenseUrl":"../../../../theoplayer-license.txt","mutedAutoplay":"all"}'
      source='{"sources":{"src":"https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/big_buck_bunny.m3u8","type":"application/x-mpegurl"},"poster":"https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/poster.jpg","metadata":{"title":"Big Buck Bunny"}}'
    ></theoplayer-default-ui>
    <script src="../utils.js"></script>
    <script>
      const ui = document.querySelector('theoplayer-default-ui');
      onParentMessage('video-fit', ({ fit }) => {
        ui.style.setProperty('--theoplayer-video-object-fit', fit);
      });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Default UI

In the Default UI, set object-fit on the <video> elements of the player.

.theoplayer-skin video {
  object-fit: cover;
}

Code

default-ui.html

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <title>Video fit (Default UI)</title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.theoplayer.com/dash/theoplayer/ui.css" />
    <script src="https://cdn.theoplayer.com/dash/theoplayer/THEOplayer.js"></script>
    <style>
      html,
      body {
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
        font-family: sans-serif;
      }

      /* Make the player wider than the 16:9 video, so the effect of each fit is visible. */
      .player-container {
        position: relative;
        width: 100%;
        aspect-ratio: 21 / 9;
      }

      .player-container .video-js {
        width: 100%;
        height: 100%;
      }

      /* How the video fits inside the player: contain (default), cover or fill. */
      .theoplayer-skin video {
        object-fit: contain;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="player-container">
      <div id="player" class="video-js theoplayer-skin"></div>
    </div>
    <script src="../utils.js"></script>
    <script>
      var player = new THEOplayer.Player(document.querySelector('#player'), {
        libraryLocation: 'https://cdn.theoplayer.com/dash/theoplayer/',
        licenseUrl: '../../../../theoplayer-license.txt',
        mutedAutoplay: 'all',
      });
      player.source = {
        sources: [{ src: 'https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/big_buck_bunny.m3u8', type: 'application/x-mpegurl' }],
        poster: 'https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/poster.jpg',
        metadata: { title: 'Big Buck Bunny' },
      };

      onParentMessage('video-fit', function (message) {
        document.querySelectorAll('.theoplayer-skin video').forEach(function (video) {
          video.style.objectFit = message.fit;
        });
      });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>