Videos not playing on safari mac or iphone

Support
#1

Hi,

I have added a video post the news on the front page of my site and also on another page and it works in chrome, fireforx etc but just not on safari on mac or iphone. Any ideas?

Post link:

Video on page (at top):

Thanks

Chris

#2

Hi Chris,

I checked the front end of the website using the Safari browser and used the Developer Toolbar of that browser to check the code and found out the error below:

Screen Shot 2020-04-02 at 11.43.12
Screen Shot 2020-04-02 at 11.43.12855×205 46.6 KB

It seems that you use a video format that the Safari browser does not support. It seems to be the problem cause as all other platforms that you mentioned use the same rendering engine of Safari.

Please kindly read the article below to know which format and codec you need to use for your video to make sure Safari browser can play it:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AudioVideo/Conceptual/Using_HTML5_Audio_Video/AudioandVideoTagBasics/AudioandVideoTagBasics.html

I also suggest that you check the Video element documentation Player Setup section which gives more information on the proper format that you can use for your videos:

Thank you.

#3

Hi @christopher, i have tried mp4 (which is the orginal one i uploaded), webm mov and none of them work in safari. Youtube embeds work but i didnt want to host videos here as you cannot turn off the related videos popping up which looks unprofessional for a school. I even tried using <video> embeds instead of iframes and again its just unresponsive. Any other ideas?

thanks,

Chris

#4

Hello Chris,

Your video is playing in Chrome and not displaying in Safari. This would mean that your video is not HTML5 compatible. You can view this tutorial to convert the video file to HTML5 compatible here:

Hope this helps. Kindly let us know how it goes.

#5

Hi @ruenel

I have tried that exactly and still no joy. The controls show up for a second and then disappear. I have even tried it in the new video element and old to no avail.

I urgently need to get it working as we need our students during this time to be able to watch the videos.

UPDATE - i have found that the issue comes down to if the video sits on the same site. I have a multisite setup.

  1. a main site of : https://hadleylearningcommunity.org.uk (lets called this SITE A)
  2. a subsite of : https://hadleylearningcommunity.org.uk/secondary (lets called this SITE B)

Now if i add a video player element or even a video background on a page on the secondary site and the media sits on the secondary site then it does not work. If i put the media on the main site and then link to it from the secondary site then it works!! No videos are working on my secondary site if the video is actually hosted on the secondary site! This is mad. Any ideas?

Here is a page on the secondary where the video on the left is hosted on its own site (secondary SITE B) and the video on the right is hosted on the top level site (SITE A) so you can see - make sure you view in safari - the problem browser.

I urgently need to get it working as we need our students during this time to be able to watch the videos.

thanks,

Chris

#6

Hello Chris,

There seems to be an issue with your videos not just the file location. Please view these inks directly in your Safari:

Mrs_Bedford_310320.mp4 file is not playable in Safari while HLC_Promo_-Small.mp4 can be played. When the same file is uploaded in the same location, https://hadleylearningcommunity.org.uk/secondary/files/2018/01/HLC_Promo_-Small.mp4, the video is no longer playing. This could mean that something in your Secondary site is preventing the video from playing. Is site B a clone of site A? This could be caused by a 3rd party plugin. You could try testing for a plugin conflict. You can do this by deactivating all third party plugins, and seeing if the problem remains. If it’s fixed, you’ll know a plugin caused the problem, and you can narrow down which one by reactivating them one at a time.

If nothing is helping, provide us access to your site so that we can check your settings. Please create a secure note with the following info:
– Link to your site
– WordPress Admin username / password
​
To know how to create a secure note, please check this out: https://theme.co/docs/getting-support

Best Regards.

#7

Hi,

Right, I deactivated all the plugins from across every site and still the video that actually sits on the secondary school site or primary school site do not play. If you link it to the main site: hadley learning community it works. Odd! i also updated my PRO theme, and WP to v5.4 and updated all plugins and reactivated and still no jo.

Its only in Safari this happens and i know that the video files are good as they work on the hadley learning community site.I have found a couple of websites that are over my head but may help you guys:

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/42560/ms-files.diff


I have left a secure note with the login details as requested and gave you access to the 3 sites.

Thanks,

Chris

#8

Hello King,

Thanks for updating in! As I have mentioned before that both the video does not play in Safari even if you paste the links in the Safari Address bar:

This could simply mean that the issue lies within your server or WP multisite setup. Just to manage your expectations, this isn’t specifically a theme issue, but rather, a Safari browser issue which we do not have any control over.

Your issue is related to this thread: https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/mp4-videos-not-loading-on-safari/

Thank you for your understanding.

#9

Hi,

I contacted my host and they said the following:

Hello Chris,

Thank you for contacting our Help Desk.

I have checked the case carefully and I was able to re-create the problem that you have encountered on your multisite Wordpress application. I have also examined the server logs for the problem that you have encountered, but I was not able to find any errors that might be reflecting in the reported behaviour on your application.

I believe that the best course of action would be to consult with your developer so he/she can review your application’s configuration and provide you with steps on how that can be addressed. We try our best to assist our customers as much as possible, as we understand the complications of hiring a developer. Unfortunately, there are issues which do fall beyond our scope of support and sometimes there isn’t any other option, but to contact a professional developer.

In case you do not have a trusted developer, I recommend you turn to our partner Codeable. Codeable is a WordPress exclusive freelancer platform that connects thousands of customers like you with WordPress freelance experts to work on WordPress projects of any size. We recommend them for the high-quality of development services they offer. As a SiteGround client, you’ll get a $60 discount on your first project posted with Codeable. If you are interested, you can find more information on this page:

We remain at your disposal if any further assistance is needed on the server end.

Best Regards,

Miroslav Tyurdiev
Technical Support Team

Any ideas?

#10

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately, we do not have any idea either. Please kindly consider that this is happening on your website and environment and not happening on other websites or our installations, this shows it is not something related to our Video Element code and it must be something related to your setup which we do not have a clue.

I added a Test Page and used the video which we have on our Integrity Demo website and I am sure that it is suitable for web use and the result was the same.

Please check the URL I shared in a Secure Note.

I also deactivated the SG Optimize plugin and the x-proxy-cache: MISS error is gone, but the site is slow. I suggest you also contact the SG Optimize plugin developer and ask them to help.

I also created another page and did not use Pro builder at all and use the default WordPress [embed] shortcode and the result is the same. You can check the link in Secure Note. So it shows the problem is not related to our product.

At least you know that the problem is not the Video Element and you can start your research for other possible reasons.

Thank you for your understanding.

#11

Hi all,

I have managed to fix this now by applying the code on this site myself to the ms-files.php:

https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/mp4-videos-not-loading-on-safari/

It may be worth noting this if anyone else has the same issues with a Wordpress Multi Site setup. That wasnt stressful at all! haha. Thanks again guys, i do appreciate all of your time and advice.

Stay safe.

Chris

#12

Hi Chris,

No worries at all and thank you for sharing the link with the solution.

Stay safe!

#13

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