josephschmitt:

Announced today:

Since we rolled out the HTML5 player in January people have been clamoring for an embeddable version, especially for iPhones and iPads. Today we’re taking a big leap forward for compatibility and updating our embed code. We call it the Universal Player.

The Universal Player is as easy to use as the old embed code, just a lot more compatible. Instead of being a direct link to a Flash player the new Universal Player can automatically detect what kind of device is viewing the video and choose the optimum player based on the device’s capabilities. For example, it will serve mobile video to iPhones and Androids and HD to iPads and Desktops. On other mobile devices it can use the native player of the device or an optimized mobile Flash player with bigger controls. It also allows us to introduce new players as technology changes, potentially allowing us to do things like serve HTML5 to IE9 and WEBM video to Firefox.

The goal is to make the Vimeo player experience as seamless as possible. No matter what device or website Vimeo embed code appears on your video will load, with the same level of privacy, customization and quality you’ve all come to expect.

I can’t express how happy I am that this is finally out. I remember when we first started talking about doing this way back in March or April. I’ve been eyebrows deep in markup, iframes, javascript api’s, and crazy-ass HTML5 ever since. It’s been a wonderful (though at times frustrating) ride. Hope you enjoy watching all our great vids on those wacky mobile devices you all are using nowadays.

PS. Make sure you check out some embedded videos on the iPhone, Android, or WebOS to get that spiffy mobile-optimized UI at the top of the post.

Really happy these 3 things are finally out there for all to play with!