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Video Player Studio
Last updated: Dec-24-2025
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.
Overview
The Video Player Studio provides a streamlined workflow for configuring video players:
- Select a video asset
- Configure player settings using the visual interface
- Save settings to the asset, generate embed code, or share a public link
- Use the embed code in your website or application, or share the link directly
Accessing the studio
You can access the Video Player Studio in two ways:
From the Video app
- Navigate to Video in the Console sidebar.
- Select Video Player Studio from the Video menu.
- Select a video asset to configure.
From the Media Library
- Open the Media Library and navigate to a video asset.
- Double-click the video to open it.
- Click the Video Player Studio button in the top toolbar.
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
configobject directly in JSON format. - Add player options not available through the visual interface.
- Fine-tune specific settings with precise values.
For a complete list of available configuration options, see the Video Player API Reference.
Saving settings
After configuring your video player settings, click Save Settings to save the settings directly to the video asset. This ensures the settings are automatically applied whenever the video is played using the Cloudinary Video Player.
When you save settings to an asset, they apply to all instances of the video player playing that asset (unless a profile or instance-level configuration overrides them). If you have embedded this video elsewhere without a specific profile, those embeds also update to reflect your new settings.
To discard unsaved changes, click Discard Changes.
Using saved settings
When you save settings to an asset, those settings are 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 get 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. The generated code automatically uses the latest version of the Video Player to ensure compatibility with asset-saved settings.
Settings source
Choose which settings to apply to the embedded player:
- Video settings: Use the settings saved on the video asset.
- Profile settings: 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 Cloudinary Video Player supports two approaches to applying player settings:
Video settings (Default)
Every video asset has its own saved settings (video settings). By default, the player uses these settings. This is ideal when you want specific settings for individual videos.
In the Video Player Studio, you are always editing the asset's video settings.
Profiles
Profiles are named configurations that you choose deliberately. If you specify a profile when embedding, the player uses the profile settings and overrides the asset's video settings.
This is ideal when you want consistent settings across multiple videos.
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