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Video Player Studio

Last updated: Dec-03-2025

The Video Player Studio is a visual interface in the Cloudinary Console for configuring video player settings on individual video assets. Instead of writing code to configure your video player, you can use the studio to design your player appearance, set poster options, configure chapters, and more. You can then save those settings directly to the asset, save them as a reusable player profile, generate embed code, or share a public link to your video.

On this page:

Overview

The Video Player Studio provides a streamlined workflow for configuring video players:

  1. Select a video asset
  2. Configure player settings using the visual interface
  3. Save settings to the asset, generate embed code, or share a public link
  4. Use the embed code in your website or application, or share the link directly

Tip
The Video Player Studio is ideal for teams who want to configure video players without writing code, or for developers who prefer a visual interface for designing player configurations before implementing them programmatically.

Accessing the studio

You can access the Video Player Studio in two ways:

From the Video app

  1. Navigate to Video in the Console sidebar.
  2. Select Video Player Studio from the Video menu.
  3. Select a video asset to configure.

From the Media Library

  1. Open the Media Library and navigate to a video asset.
  2. Double-click the video to open it.
  3. Click the Video Player Studio button in the top toolbar.

Note
The Video Player Studio requires you to select a video asset. When you open the studio from the Video app menu, select an asset first before configuring player settings.

Configuration sections

The Video Player Studio organizes configuration options into several sections, accessible from the left sidebar.

Section Description
Appearance & Brand Configure the visual appearance of your video player, including title display, player theme colors, fonts, and custom branding with logo.
Poster & Thumbnails Set the poster image that displays before the video plays. Options include auto-select, specific frame, custom URL, or upload.
Player Controls Configure which controls are available in the video player and how they behave.
Optimize Configure optimization settings for video delivery, including quality and format options.
Chapters Define chapters for navigation between video sections. You can upload a VTT file, manually define chapters, or enable AI-generated chapters. See Video chapters.
Transcripts & Localization Configure subtitles, captions, and transcript settings. See Subtitles and captions.

Advanced config editing

For fine-grained control over your video player configuration, click the < > icon in the studio to open the Advanced config editing dialog. This allows you to manually edit the Video Player configuration JavaScript, including options not currently exposed in the studio UI.

In the advanced editor, you can:

  • View and modify the config object directly in JSON format.
  • Add player options not available through the visual interface.
  • Fine-tune specific settings with precise values.

Note
Default player options get ignored in the advanced config editor. Only the options you explicitly define get applied.

For a complete list of available configuration options, see the Video Player API Reference.

Saving settings

After configuring your video player settings, you have two options:

Save to asset

Click Save Settings to save the settings directly to the video asset. This allows the settings to be automatically applied whenever the video is played using the Cloudinary Video Player.

To discard unsaved changes, click Discard Changes.

Using saved settings

When you save settings to an asset, those settings can be automatically retrieved when embedding the video player. This simplifies your embed code since you only need to specify the video's public ID and the saved settings are applied automatically.

Sharing and embedding

Click the Share button in the top toolbar to access options for sharing your video or generating embed code.

Public link

Generate a shareable public link to your video with the configured player settings. From the public link options, you can:

  • Copy the public link URL
  • Set an expiration date for the link
  • Configure start and end dates for link availability

Embed code

Select Embed from the Share menu to generate code for adding the video player to your website or application.

Settings source

Choose which settings to apply to the embedded player:

  • Custom settings: Use the settings configured in the studio.
  • Profile: Select a saved player profile to apply.

Output formats

Choose from three output formats:

  • Link: A direct URL to the cloud-hosted player.
  • Embed: An iframe snippet for embedding the cloud-hosted player.
  • JavaScript: Code for embedding a self-hosted player with your settings.

Copy the generated code and paste it into your website or application.

Asset-saved settings vs profiles

The Video Player Studio supports two approaches to managing player settings:

Asset-saved settings

Save settings directly to a video asset. This is ideal when:

  • You want specific settings for individual videos
  • Different videos require different player settings
  • You prefer to manage settings per asset

Profile-based settings

Save settings as a reusable player profile. This is ideal when:

  • You want consistent settings across multiple videos
  • You need to update settings for many videos at once
  • You prefer centralized settings management

Note
Asset-saved settings and profiles are mutually exclusive. If you specify a profile when embedding, the profile settings are used and any asset-saved settings are ignored. See Asset-saved settings vs profiles for more details.

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