# Embedding HTML5 video in Github Pages

A while back, I wrote some a pair of longer posts about beautifully rendering scientific data using blender. For that data I generated a number of short video clips showing how the magnetic moments in a material reorient themselves when an external magnetic field is applied. Initially I had a lot of trouble embedding the video in the blog; uploading to YouTube and embedding from there is bad because there’s already native support for embedded videos with HTML5 - why should I have to muck about with YouTube to display a simple video? Also, nobody likes it when another video starts playing without being asked when the first is done, along with a bunch recommendations on what to watch next.

It took me a little while to figure out, but in short, FFMPEG is the ideal tool for the job. Equally important is the choice of compression, giving up as little as possible in terms of quality in exchange for smaller file size. I found the best compromise to be the following:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -preset slow -pix_fmt yuv420p -an output.mp4


Let’s understand the arguments:

1. -i input.mp4: Specify the input file with -i.
2. -c:v is short for -vcodec, which itself is an alias for -codec:v. libx264, used to encode H.264 video, was most commonly used when I published the posting before, and as I understand it there wasn’t yet widespread support for H.265. However, H.265 offers potentially large savings (up to ~50%!!) in terms of filesize for comparable video quality. As long as it’s supported, use libx265.
3. -preset slow: This argument controls how quickly the video is encoded; the slower the encoding, the larger the compression ratio is. If the amount of time you spend encoding the video is no object, use veryslow. If, on the other hand, you’re in a hurry to publish the video, use ultrafast. The compression ratio will be worse, but the video encoding will be quick.
4. -pix_fmt yuv420p: Correctly specifying the pixel format specifier, which controls how color image data is encoded, was critical for getting the embedded video to appear. yuv420p worked for me, but YMMV here - I’m pretty sure other options should work, but you need to make sure that the input video format has a pixel format compatible with the output.
5. -an: Don’t encode any audio in the output file. If you need audio, use -c:a <whatever audio codec>.
6. output.mp4: At the end, specify the output file.

Finally, embed the resulting output in your webpage:

<video autoplay="autoplay" loop="loop" width="800" height="450" codecs="h264" controls>
<source src=output.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>


And that’s it! If I’ve missed anything here, leave a comment below and I’ll incorporate it into the discussion here.

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