# etianen/html5media

Enables <video> and <audio> tags in all major browsers.

Repository: https://github.com/etianen/html5media
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/html5media
Homepage: http://html5media.info/
Language: JavaScript
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2020-12-20T18:10:40+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5930, "days_push": 2082, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1269, forks 327 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:11.597471+00:00)

## What it is
A single-line JavaScript library that enables HTML5 <video> and <audio> tags to work in all major browsers, including older ones with inconsistent codec support. It acts as a fire-and-forget polyfill that lets browsers use their native media controls.

## Use cases
- embed html5 video in all browsers
- make audio tags work in older browsers
- add video to a webpage with one line of code
- avoid flash-based video players
- handle inconsistent video codec support across browsers
- embed mp4 video with native browser controls

## When to choose
- You need simple, lightweight HTML5 media embedding with native browser controls
- You must support older browsers lacking HTML5 video/audio support
- You want a fire-and-forget polyfill with no server-side setup

## When to avoid
- You need a fully customizable video player UI with skins and playlists
- You only target modern evergreen browsers that already support HTML5 media
- You need advanced features like captions, analytics, or DRM

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: video-processing, audio-processing, ui-components
- domain: web-development, frontend, media
- platform: browser
- tags: html5-video, html5-audio, polyfill, media-embedding, javascript, web-server

## Member repositories
- etianen/html5media (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.597471+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:03:31.272009+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/etianen/html5media (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.597471+00:00, sha 3b17ae8f8dec)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/html5media (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:07.039739+00:00, sha 1425e71be50c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.