More enhancements for HTML5 video and audio in Firefox

There has been a lot of attention focused on enhancements for HTML5 videos recently. Here is an updated list of changes you can expect to see, as well as find out what is currently planned.

Available now in Firefox

• Added visual feedback when the HTML5 Media stalled event is dispatched*
• Clicking on the video surface will toggle between play and pause*
• The seekable attribute returns the ranges of the media that are currently available for seeking to. Learn more about seekable
• The played attribute enables script to see what regions of the media has been played
• Seeking in media is now accurate to the nearest microsecond

Available now in Firefox Beta

• Includes all the changes in the release version of Firefox
• Specialized video controls for small-dimension media*
• Viewing an HTML5 video directly now uses a design that is comforting for watching videos

Available now in Firefox Aurora

• Includes all the features in the release version of Firefox and Firefox Beta
• API for controlling fullscreen content. See the fullscreen documentation for more information
• View video statistics overlaid on the video element (right-click on the video and choose “Show statistics”)*
• The video controls appear when the video ends so users have a predictable way to know when a video ended*
• “View video” is no longer in the context menu for videos when viewed directly
• Save the current frame of a video to disk (right-click on the video and choose “Save snapshot as…”)*

Available now in Firefox Nightly

• Includes all the features in the release version of Firefox, Firefox Beta, and Firefox Aurora
• Standalone images are rendered on a neutral background (starting 12/19)
• Added a full-screen button to the default video controls*
• The video controls fade out if no mouse movement for > 2 seconds*
• The loading throbber for HTML5 audio has been removed since it caused page layout issues*
• Error descriptions are now overlaid on the video to help users and authors diagnose video problems*
• The loop attribute has been implemented
• Directly viewed videos that are larger than the browser window are automatically resized to fit the window

Features planned

• Large overlaid play button on videos that are not set to autoplay*
• A refresh of the design of the media controls*
• Horizontal volume slider*
• Add detection of H.264 videos and custom error UI*
• Fullscreen video should disable screensaver during playback

* Requires the |controls| attribute is set on the <video> element.

12/16/2011 9:38am: Post updated to show how the various release channels of Firefox build on each other.