Fix Plyr: Portrait Video Resizing Issue & Aspect Ratio
Are you encountering an issue where your Plyr video player unexpectedly resizes when playing portrait videos? You're not alone! Many developers have faced this challenge, where the player initially looks fine but then adjusts to a tall and distorted aspect ratio once the video metadata loads. This article dives deep into the problem and provides effective solutions to ensure your portrait videos display correctly within Plyr, maintaining their original aspect ratio and visual appeal.
Understanding the Plyr Resizing Issue with Portrait Videos
When you first load a portrait video into Plyr, it might appear correctly, fitting within the container with the poster image centered. However, the issue arises shortly after the video metadata is loaded. Plyr, by default, tries to fit the video to the player's dimensions, which can lead to a distorted appearance for portrait videos, making them look stretched and unnatural. This problem stems from the player's attempt to responsively adapt to different screen sizes, but it doesn't always handle portrait videos ideally. The core challenge is to instruct Plyr to respect the video's original aspect ratio, preventing it from stretching the video to fill the container.
Why Does This Happen?
Plyr, like many video players, calculates the aspect ratio based on the video's width and height. For landscape videos, this usually works seamlessly. However, portrait videos have a height greater than their width, which can confuse the player's default resizing behavior. The player might try to fill the entire container height, resulting in the width being stretched beyond its original proportion. This resizing issue is further complicated by the way browsers handle video metadata loading and how Plyr reacts to these events. When the metadata loads, Plyr recalculates the video dimensions and applies its default resizing logic, leading to the unwanted stretching.
Identifying the Root Cause
To effectively tackle this problem, it’s crucial to understand the underlying CSS and JavaScript mechanisms at play. Plyr uses CSS classes and inline styles to manage the video player's size and aspect ratio. When the metadata loads, Plyr dynamically adjusts these styles. The key is to identify which styles are causing the distortion and then override them with custom CSS. This often involves inspecting the Plyr container and video elements using browser developer tools to see how the styles change before and after the metadata loads. By pinpointing the specific CSS rules that are causing the issue, you can create targeted CSS rules to counteract them.
Solutions for Maintaining Portrait Video Aspect Ratio in Plyr
Several approaches can be employed to fix the portrait video resizing issue in Plyr. These solutions range from using CSS to JavaScript adjustments, each with its own advantages and considerations. Below, we explore the most effective methods to ensure your portrait videos maintain their original aspect ratio.
1. CSS-Based Aspect Ratio Control
One of the most straightforward solutions involves using CSS to enforce the aspect ratio. This method leverages CSS properties like aspect-ratio or the padding-bottom hack to maintain the correct proportions. The aspect-ratio property is a modern CSS feature that allows you to specify the desired aspect ratio directly. However, older browsers might not fully support this, so a fallback might be necessary. The padding-bottom hack, a more traditional approach, involves using padding to create a container with a specific aspect ratio, which the video then fits into.
Using the aspect-ratio Property
To use the aspect-ratio property, you need to target the Plyr container and apply the desired ratio. First, determine the aspect ratio of your portrait video by dividing its width by its height. For example, if your video is 464x688, the aspect ratio is approximately 0.674. Then, apply this ratio to the Plyr container using CSS:
.plyr__video-wrapper {
aspect-ratio: 464 / 688; /* Replace with your video's aspect ratio */
width: 100%; /* Ensure it takes the full width of its parent */
}
This CSS rule tells the browser to maintain the specified aspect ratio for the video wrapper. The width: 100% ensures that the player takes up the full width of its container, while the aspect ratio dictates the height. If you have multiple videos with different aspect ratios, you might need to use CSS classes or JavaScript to dynamically apply the correct aspect ratio.
The Padding-Bottom Hack
The padding-bottom hack is a clever technique that leverages the fact that padding percentages are calculated based on the width of the element. By setting the padding-bottom to a percentage that corresponds to the aspect ratio, you can create a container that maintains the desired proportions. First, calculate the aspect ratio as a percentage by dividing the height by the width and multiplying by 100. For a 464x688 video, this would be approximately 148.28%. Then, apply the following CSS:
.plyr__video-wrapper {
position: relative; /* Needed for absolute positioning of the video */
width: 100%;
padding-bottom: 148.28%; /* Aspect ratio as a percentage */
height: 0; /* Collapse the container's height */
overflow: hidden; /* Prevent content from overflowing */
}
.plyr__video-wrapper iframe,
.plyr__video-wrapper video {
position: absolute; /* Position the video absolutely within the container */
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
This CSS creates a container with the correct aspect ratio and then positions the video to fill that container. The key is the padding-bottom and height: 0 combination, which creates the proportional space. This technique is widely supported across browsers, making it a reliable fallback for the aspect-ratio property.
2. JavaScript-Based Dynamic Resizing
Another approach involves using JavaScript to dynamically adjust the player's size based on the video's dimensions. This method provides more flexibility, especially when dealing with videos of varying aspect ratios. The core idea is to listen for the loadedmetadata event, which fires when the video's metadata (including dimensions) has loaded, and then adjust the player's height accordingly.
Listening for the loadedmetadata Event
To implement this solution, you need to add an event listener to the video element that triggers when the loadedmetadata event is fired. This event provides access to the video's videoWidth and videoHeight properties, which you can use to calculate the aspect ratio and set the player's dimensions:
const player = new Plyr('#player'); // Replace '#player' with your player's selector
const video = player.media;
video.addEventListener('loadedmetadata', () => {
const aspectRatio = video.videoWidth / video.videoHeight;
const playerWidth = player.getContainer().offsetWidth; // Get the player's current width
const playerHeight = playerWidth / aspectRatio; // Calculate the new height
player.getContainer().style.height = `${playerHeight}px`; // Set the player's height
});
This JavaScript code first gets the Plyr instance and the video element. It then adds an event listener for the loadedmetadata event. When the event fires, it calculates the aspect ratio, gets the player's current width, calculates the new height based on the aspect ratio, and sets the player's height. This ensures that the player dynamically adjusts to the video's aspect ratio, preventing distortion.
Handling Resizing
In addition to setting the initial height, you might also want to handle resizing, especially if the player's container is responsive. You can add a resize event listener to the window to recalculate the player's height whenever the window size changes:
window.addEventListener('resize', () => {
const aspectRatio = video.videoWidth / video.videoHeight;
const playerWidth = player.getContainer().offsetWidth;
const playerHeight = playerWidth / aspectRatio;
player.getContainer().style.height = `${playerHeight}px`;
});
This code is similar to the loadedmetadata event handler, but it runs whenever the window is resized. This ensures that the player's height is always correctly adjusted to maintain the video's aspect ratio, even on different screen sizes.
3. Combining CSS and JavaScript
For a robust solution, you can combine CSS and JavaScript techniques. Use CSS to set a default aspect ratio and JavaScript to dynamically adjust it when the video metadata loads. This approach provides a fallback in case JavaScript is disabled or fails to load, and it ensures that the player looks correct from the initial load.
Implementing the Combined Approach
First, use CSS to set a default aspect ratio using either the aspect-ratio property or the padding-bottom hack, as described earlier. Then, use JavaScript to override this default aspect ratio when the loadedmetadata event fires:
/* CSS (Padding-Bottom Hack Fallback) */
.plyr__video-wrapper {
position: relative;
width: 100%;
padding-bottom: 100%; /* Default aspect ratio (1:1) */
height: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
.plyr__video-wrapper iframe,
.plyr__video-wrapper video {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
// JavaScript
const player = new Plyr('#player');
const video = player.media;
video.addEventListener('loadedmetadata', () => {
const aspectRatio = video.videoWidth / video.videoHeight;
const playerWidth = player.getContainer().offsetWidth;
const playerHeight = playerWidth / aspectRatio;
player.getContainer().style.height = `${playerHeight}px`;
});
window.addEventListener('resize', () => {
const aspectRatio = video.videoWidth / video.videoHeight;
const playerWidth = player.getContainer().offsetWidth;
const playerHeight = playerWidth / aspectRatio;
player.getContainer().style.height = `${playerHeight}px`;
});
This combination ensures that the player has a default aspect ratio while waiting for the video metadata to load, and it dynamically adjusts the height once the metadata is available. The resize event listener ensures that the aspect ratio is maintained on different screen sizes.
Conclusion
Fixing the Plyr resizing issue with portrait videos involves a few key strategies. Whether you choose to use CSS-based aspect ratio control, JavaScript-based dynamic resizing, or a combination of both, the goal is to ensure that your videos maintain their original aspect ratio and display correctly within the player. By understanding the underlying mechanisms and implementing these solutions, you can provide a better viewing experience for your users, especially when dealing with portrait videos. Remember to test your implementation across different browsers and devices to ensure compatibility and optimal performance.
For more information on Plyr and video aspect ratios, consider visiting the official Plyr documentation. This resource offers comprehensive details and examples to help you master Plyr and its features.
