Video is an incredibly effective means of communicating a message. And it can be even more effective when combined with images and text, as in a video poster. So let’s talk about how you can set up video posters and why you should be using them in the first place!
What Is the Video Poster HTML5 Attribute?
The video poster attribute is a new HTML5 attribute that lets you specify an image to display before a video starts playing. It’s also sometimes referred to as a placeholder image because developers can use it to show logos or another branding instead of just being empty space.
The video poster poster attribute shows an image in place of the actual content until the player has loaded it. If you don’t include one, the video will always default to the first frame of the video. The source image should be in URL form, like so:
<video poster="/img/funnycat.png">
Why Should I Use A Video Poster?
Video is a powerful way to engage your audience and promote products, services, and events. Site designers can use a video poster to show off your brand in an engaging way that gives customers a behind-the-scenes look at what you do. By adding in a poster, it keeps your site looking functional until the video loads.
Create and Manage Video Posters with Cloudinary
Video posters are a great way to promote your products or services. They can be used as both an image and video, giving you more marketing options. You can also create video posters with Cloudinary’s editor in just a few clicks!
You can do this through one of our SDKs or entirely within the Cloudinary API. Our HTML5 video player is easy to set up on any website, and we can offer better customization over the default HTML5 player. Plus, we can host and connect your video posters in our Media Experience Cloud. The best part? You can get started with Cloudinary for free!
