JW Player

JW Player is a powerful video platform for delivering high-quality playback experiences. Median's JW Player Native Plugin integrates the JW Player iOS SDK and Android SDK into your app to provide native video playback with support for single videos, playlists, and adaptive streaming.

The plugin presents a full-screen native player and supports starting playback at a specific position. On iOS, Chromecast support is automatically initialized if configured.

App Configuration

The JW Player plugin requires a license key. Configure it in the App Studio, on the Native Plugins tab under "Advanced Mode":

{
  "jwplayer": {
    "active": true,
    "licenseKey": "YOUR_JW_PLAYER_LICENSE_KEY"
  }
}

On iOS you can also configure Google Cast for Chromecast support by adding the appId:

{
  "jwplayer": {
    "active": true,
    "licenseKey": "YOUR_JW_PLAYER_LICENSE_KEY",
    "appId": "YOUR_CAST_APP_ID"
  }
}

📘

Android Auto-Initialization

On Android, the JW Player license key is automatically set from the server configuration. On iOS you must call median.jwplayer.initialize() from JavaScript before playing content.

Implementation Guide

Initialize the JW Player SDK

Set your JW Player license key. On iOS this is required before playing any content. On Android this is optional if the key is already set in the server configuration.

↔️Median JavaScript Bridge

To initialize the JW Player SDK:

JavaScript

const result = await median.jwplayer.initialize({
  licenseKey: 'YOUR_JW_PLAYER_LICENSE_KEY'
});

// result object
{
  success: true | false,
  error: {                // present on failure only
    code: "NOT_INITIALIZED",
    message: "Invalid license key"
  }
}

Parameters

Play a Video

Present a full-screen native player and begin video playback. You can provide a single video file, an array of video files (playlist), or a JW Player playlist URL.

↔️Median JavaScript Bridge

To play a video:

JavaScript

// Play a single video
const result = await median.jwplayer.play({
  file: 'https://example.com/video.mp4',
  startTime: 30             // optional: start at 30 seconds
});

// Play a playlist
const result = await median.jwplayer.play({
  files: [
    'https://example.com/video1.mp4',
    'https://example.com/video2.mp4'
  ]
});

// Play from a JW Player playlist URL
const result = await median.jwplayer.play({
  playlistUrl: 'https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/playlists/abc123'
});

JavaScript

// Callback example
median.jwplayer.play({
  file: 'https://example.com/video.mp4',
  callback: function(result) {
    if (result.success) {
      console.log('Playback started');
    }
  }
});

Parameters

📘

At least one of file, files, or playlistUrl must be provided.

Return Values

The callback data differs between platforms:

iOS returns when the player has been configured:

{
  success: true
}

Android returns when the player is closed, including playback state:

{
  success: true,
  position: 120,            // playback position in seconds at close time
  state: "playing",         // player state: "playing" | "paused" | "idle" | "complete"
  file: "https://...",      // URL of the current playlist item
  isMute: false,            // whether the player was muted
  currentQuality: {},       // current video quality
  currentAudioTrack: {},    // current audio track
  currentCaptions: {}       // current captions track
}

Error Response

{
  success: false,
  error: {
    code: "NOT_INITIALIZED" | "INTERNAL_ERROR",
    message: "..."
  }
}

Chromecast Support (iOS)

On iOS, Chromecast support is automatically initialized at app launch when the appId is configured in the server configuration. No additional JavaScript calls are required.

To enable Chromecast, add your Google Cast application ID to the JW Player configuration in the App Studio as shown in the App Configuration section above.