[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #51564: Unable to autoplay + loop off-screen videos using Chrome

[WordPress Trac]

#51564: Unable to autoplay + loop off-screen videos using Chrome
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 Reporter:  kentallenduke  |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)   |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal         |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Media          |    Version:  5.4.2
 Severity:  normal         |   Keywords:  reporter-feedback has-screenshots
  Focuses:                 |
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 Hi there,

 To move away from using heavy GIFs, I am trying to autoplay and loop
 multiple mp4 video files (without sound) on WordPress. However, even with
 the autoplay and loop tags, the videos that aren’t in view after clicking
 refresh are not autoplaying or looping. This unintended behavior is
 reproducible on Chrome 86.0.4240.75, 87.0.4280.20, and 88.0.4291.2, but
 not on Firefox 83.

 Expected: With the appropriate tags, all videos should show autoplay and
 loop regardless if they’re off-screen on Chrome (Firefox works as
 expected). Alternatively, to save resources, videos off-screen should
 start autoplaying and looping once they are in view.

 Actual: Off-screen videos aren’t autoplaying or looping after I hit the
 refresh key, even when I scroll down to view them.

 See attached Google Drive video link below. Being able to autoplay and
 loop MP4s will solve multiple problems with GIFs:

 – Much lower file size (6x less, sometimes 10x smaller) than GIFs, meaning
 less time uploading and much faster page load.
 – File quality will appear much better as an mp4 compared to the pixel-y
 look from GIFs.
 – To add to the second point, 60 FPS mp4 is ~2-3 times smaller than 30 FPS
 GIF.

 Google Drive video link:
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1abH4We1Qj_qWk2ECwzdeaSDLYKrvwIep/view?usp=sharing

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/51564>
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