HTML <video> poster Attribute

Example

A video player with a poster image:

<video controls poster="/images/w3html5.gif">
<source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
<source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg">
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

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Definition and Usage

The poster attribute specifies an image to be shown while the video is downloading, or until the user hits the play button. If this is not included, the first frame of the video will be used instead.

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the attribute.

Attribute
poster	4.0	9.0	3.6	3.1	10.5

Syntax

Attribute Values

Value	Description
URL	Specifies the URL of the image file. Possible values: An absolute URL - points to another web site (like href="http://www.example.com/poster.jpg") A relative URL - points to a file within a web site (like href="poster.jpg")

Value

Description

URL

Specifies the URL of the image file.

Possible values:

An absolute URL - points to another web site (like href="http://www.example.com/poster.jpg")
A relative URL - points to a file within a web site (like href="poster.jpg")

❮ HTML <video> tag