# mediaelement/mediaelement

HTML5 <audio> or <video> player with support for MP4, WebM, and MP3 as well as HLS, Dash, YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud and others with a common HTML5 MediaElement API, enabling a consistent UI in all browsers.

Repository: https://github.com/mediaelement/mediaelement
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mediaelement
Homepage: http://mediaelementjs.com/
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: html5-audio, html5-video, hls, video, streaming, html5, flash, dash, mp4, mp3, html5-video-player
Last push: 2026-05-12T09:15:03+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 76/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 82, release rhythm 56, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5881, "days_push": 113, "days_rel": 294, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8300, forks 1536 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:20.141182+00:00)

## What it is
MediaElement.js is a JavaScript library providing a unified HTML5 audio and video player with a consistent UI across all browsers. It supports MP4, WebM, MP3, HLS, MPEG-DASH, and embeddable sources like YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitch, and SoundCloud through a common MediaElement API.

## Use cases
- play video with a consistent UI across all browsers
- embed an HTML5 audio player for MP3 files
- stream HLS or MPEG-DASH video in the browser
- embed YouTube or Vimeo videos with a custom player skin
- build an accessible WCAG-compliant media player
- play Facebook or SoundCloud media with one player API

## When to choose
- you need one player UI for multiple media formats and streaming protocols
- you must support older browsers with a unified media API
- accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1) is a requirement
- you want to unify YouTube/Vimeo/SoundCloud embeds under one API

## When to avoid
- you only target modern browsers and are happy with native controls
- you need advanced DRM or adaptive-bitrate features beyond HLS/DASH basics
- you want a React/Vue component-based player ecosystem

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: ui-components, video-processing, audio-processing
- domain: web-development, frontend, media
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: html5-video-player, html5-audio-player, hls, mpeg-dash, youtube-embed, accessibility, javascript

## Member repositories
- mediaelement/mediaelement (main) score 76

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:20.141182+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 2026-08-29T17:28:04.839221+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mediaelement/mediaelement (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:20.141182+00:00, sha 53dab20ce62b)
  - homepage: http://mediaelementjs.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:28:04.392253+00:00, sha 76d06c875533)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/mediaelement (fetched 2026-08-29T08:28:04.401540+00:00, sha 4e240e2cab08)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.