React Video Cover

A small React component rendering a <video/> with object-fit: cover, or a Fallback if object-fit is not available.

Demo

http://tkloht.github.io/react-video-cover

Installation

npm install --save react-video-cover

Basic Usage

Okay, let's say you have a simple video tag like this

<video src="http://download.blender.org/peach/bigbuckbunny_movies/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4" />

Now you want to display this video so that it always fills some container, while keeping the correct aspect ratio. For this example the container will be 300px by 300px:

  <div style={{
    width: '300px',
    height: '300px',
    overflow: 'hidden',
  }}>
    <video src="http://download.blender.org/peach/bigbuckbunny_movies/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4" />
  </div>

We can use object-fit: cover to let the video fill the container:

<div style={{
  width: '300px',
  height: '300px',
  overflow: 'hidden',
}}>
  <video
    style={{
      objectFit: 'cover',
      width: '100%',
      height: '100%',
    }}
    src="http://download.blender.org/peach/bigbuckbunny_movies/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4"
  />
</div>

The only problem with this: object-fit is not implemented by IE and Edge. If you do not have to support IE, I would suggest that you stop right here. If you want to get the same effect in IE, simply replace the video tag with the react-video-cover component:

<div style={{
  width: '300px',
  height: '300px',
  overflow: 'hidden',
}}>
  <VideoCover videoOptions={{src: 'http://download.blender.org/peach/bigbuckbunny_movies/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4'}} />
</div>

react-video-cover will set width: 100% and height: 100% because I think these are sensible defaults. You can use the style prop to overwrite it.

Here is the complete example, which also allows you to play/pause by clicking the video:

class MinimalCoverExample extends Component {
  render() {
    const videoOptions = {
      src: 'http://download.blender.org/peach/bigbuckbunny_movies/BigBuckBunny_320x180.mp4',
      ref: videoRef => {
        this.videoRef = videoRef;
      },
      onClick: () => {
        if (this.videoRef && this.videoRef.paused) {
          this.videoRef.play();
        } else if (this.videoRef) {
          this.videoRef.pause();
        }
      },
      title: 'click to play/pause',
    };
    return (
      <div style={{
        width: '300px',
        height: '300px',
        overflow: 'hidden',
      }}>
        <VideoCover
          videoOptions={videoOptions}
        />
      </div>
    );
  }
}

It is also available as Example 3 on the demo-page.

Props

videoOptions

type: Object
default: undefined
All members of videoOptions will be passed as props to the

style

type: Object
default: undefined

Additional styles which will be merged with those defined by this component. Please note that some styles are not possible to override, in particular:

• object-fit: cover (when the fallback is not used)
• position: relative and overflow: hidden (when the fallback is used)

className

type: String
default: undefined
Use this to set a custom className.

forceFallback

type: Boolean
default: false
This component will use object-fit: cover if available, that is in all modern browsers except IE. This prop forces use of the fallback. This is helpful during troubleshooting, but apart from that you should not use it.

remeasureOnWindowResize

type: Boolean
default: false
If set, an event listener on window-resize is added when the Fallback is used. It will re-evaluate the aspect-ratio and update the styles if necessary. This has no effect if the fallback is not used. The classic example where it makes sense to use this is when using a background video. If you need to react to different events to re-measure the aspect-ratio please see the onFallbackDidMount prop.

onFallbackDidMount

type: Function
default: undefined
Will be executed when the Fallback is mounted. The only parameter is a function, which can be used to force a re-measuring, for example after the size of the surrounding container has changed. Please note that this will only be invoked if the fallback is used, that is in IE. See ResizableCoverExample for an example implementation.

onFallbackWillUnmount

type: Function
default: undefined
Will be executed before the Fallback unmounts. You probably want to use this to clear any event-listeners added in onFallbackDidMount.

Development

To start a webpack-dev-server with the examples:

npm start

Then open http://localhost:3000/react-video-cover

To build the examples:

npm run build-examples

You can find the results in dist_examples.

To build the Component as published to npm:

npm run build

You can find the results in dist.

Contact

Find me on Twitter or write me an email. Of course you can also use Github issues or open a pull request.

Honestly, it would be really great to know if anyone actually uses my little component. I'm also happy to help if you run into any problems.

License

MIT