Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 1.9. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version is available here: Multimedia plugins.

Multimedia plugins

From MoodleDocs

Location: Multimedia Plugins settings link in Site administration > Modules > Filters > Manage filters


The Multimedia plugins filter finds URLs that point to multimedia resources in text and replaces them with an appropriate multimedia player.


Supported media formats

  • .mp3 - MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III
  • .swf - Macromedia Flash Format File (Adobe, Inc.)
  • .mov - QuickTime Video Clip (Apple Computer, Inc.)
  • .wmv - Windows Media File (Microsoft)
  • .mpg - MPEG Animation
  • .avi - Audio Video Interleave File
  • .flv - Flash Video File (Macromedia, Inc.)
  • .ram - RealMedia Metafile (RealNetworks, Inc.)
  • .rpm - RealMedia Player Plug-in (RealNetworks)
  • .rm - RealMedia Streaming Media (Real Networks, Inc.)
  • .mp4 (in Moodle 1.9.6 onwards)
  • .m4v (in Moodle 1.9.6 onwards)
  • .ogg (in Moodle 2.0 onwards)
  • .ogv (in Moodle 2.0 onwards)

In Moodle 1.9.6 onwards, a YouTube link filter (disabled by default) is also available.

Usage

Insert the URL of the multimedia resource into your text (which can be the URL of a file in the course files area). When displayed a suitable player will be provided. Moodle detects the media type using the filename extension, so you should ensure that the file contents match the extension correctly.

For some file types, like Flash, you can size the plugin using an extended syntax:

<a href="somepath.swf?d=640x480">My link name</a>

where the first number is the width in pixels, and the second is the height.

Required Software

Although Moodle prepares the media files to be played in the browser, the actual playback is handled by various types of browser plug-in software, primarily Adobe Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media Player and Real Player. If users do not have these installed they may be prompted to go and install them by their browser. These pieces of software are generally free, easily installed and widely used so this will only be an issue for small numbers of users.

Settings page

The settings page is in the administration block. Prior to version 1.7, this can be reached from Configuration > Filters > MultiMedia Plugins. In 1.7 it can be found via Administration > Modules > Filters > MultiMedia Plugins. In 1.8 it can be found via: Notifications > Modules > Filters > MultiMedia Plugins > Settings.

There is an individual setting to turn on or off each supported media type. Note that by default all but the Flash (.swf) filter are enabled. As Flash files present a theoretical security risk, it is strongly recommended not to allow users to add flash content.

YouTube Link Filter

The youtube filter uses a custom delimiting tag inserted anywhere within the text of a resource to embed and display an embedded youtube player without having to paste the embed code into the HTML of the page. It is also designed to ignore youtube links placed in standard <a href> tags.

  • Enable the filter from the administration menu in Moodle: Modules -> Filters -> Manage filters.
  • To embed the youtube video, create a standard <a href="..."> link to the YouTube video page
  • The filter strips out additional php GET parameters
  • Multiple links can be placed within a page.

Examples:

FAQ Media and Moodle 2+

UPDATE: see http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-26697 Lots of work on the Media management --Derek Chirnside 21:27, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

The following issues are fixed in Moodle 2.0.3 (MDL-26697):

Bug fixes:

  • fixed broken flash resizing via URL
  • upgraded Flowplayer
  • fixed invalid context in format_text()
  • all media related CSS moved from themes to filter and resources
  • fixed automatic pdf resizing in resources

Changes:

  • reworked filter_mediaplugin system settings - grouped by player type instead of individual extensions, added more information
  • improved regex url matching
  • removed old unused players, Eolas fix and UFO embedding
  • image embedding moved to filter_urltolink
  • new Flowplayer embedding API
  • accessibility and compatibility tweaks in Flowplayer
  • SWF embedding now works only in trusted texts, it is now enabled by default (works everywhere if "Allow EMBED and OBJECT tags" enabled)
  • new default video width and height

New features:

  • automatic Flash video resizing using information from video metadata
  • Flash HD video support (*.f4v)
  • Flash video embedding with HTML5 fallback - compatible with iOS and other mobile devices
  • Vimeo embedding
  • no-cookie YouTube site supported
  • HTML 5 audio and video with multiple source URLs and QuickTime fallback
  • more video and audio extensions in filelib.php
  • MP3 player colours customisable via CSS in themes
  • nomediaplugin class in a tag prevents media embedding

What is the best way of Embedding media in Moodle?

Sizing of windows in a popup to match media, or of the embed is a problem. Access to the right quality of player often means adding more code. At present Flowplayer is used. ?d=640x480 doesn't work any more.

  1. Interesting discussion on Moodle Mahem list: https://groups.google.com/forum/?pli=1#!topic/moodlemayhem/txt_5pNwATk
  2. Playing Flash FLV & SWF in MOODLE 2.0: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=163374
  3. What about SWF? There have been some security worries on using SWF. But tha advantage is that it comes with a player bundled in it.

Tracker issues:

  1. http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/PULL-96

How can I have embedded media resized appropriately?

Some thoughts on this are still in development.

  1. Detect size of file: http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-8984
  2. Patch: http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-23870

An extract from here: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=169935

Hi, I am using Moodle 2.0 (Build: 20101214) for streaming lecture videos. The vids are encoded as FLV (flash video), H.263 video and MP3 audio. Aspect ratio is 4:3 (640x480). I upload the vids to a repository, and use the "add a file" feature.

The built-in player (flowplayer 3.2.3) works nicely, until you attempt fullscreen viewing. Flowplayer apparently has the scaling set to 'scale', which fills the screen and ignores aspect ratios.

from http://flowplayer.org/documentation/configuration/clips.html, I see that available scaling options are:

   * fit: Fit to window by preserving the aspect ratio encoded in the file's metadata.
   * half: Half-size (preserves aspect ratio)
   * orig: Use the dimensions encoded in the file. If the video is too big for the available space, the video is scaled using the 'fit' option.
   * scale: Scale the video to fill all available space. Ignores the dimensions in the metadata. This is the default setting.

My question is, how do I change this setting? where would I find it?"


Useful information to have, maybe.

See also

Using Moodle forum discussions:


/discuss.php?d=90781 video streaming]