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In Part 1 of this series, I talked about the building blocks of delivering video across all major desktop and mobile platforms using HTML5 and Flash Player. I provided some simple examples of HTML5 markup, including a way to start with HTML5 and fall back to Flash, as well as an example that begins with Flash Player and falls back to HTML5.

A large part of the article, however, talked about the foundation of this process: the video containers, and audio and video codecs used therein. Unfortunately, the changing landscape of HTML5s journey to ratification, and the degree of the playback puzzle left up to each browser, made this depth helpful, if not necessary.

In this installment, Ill take a break from the heavy lifting and talk about existing players and services that can do the work for you. Then, in the coming weeks, Ill wrap up the final installment of the series with a return to the DIY mindset and provide an overview of a few encoding options, as well as a basic discussion about writing your own JavaScript player when custom solutions are required.

So, without further ado, here are my top five cross-platform video players.

Video for Everybody is one of the earliest solutions to support HTML5 and Flash video, and is also the simplest. It consists of a very basic set of markup that uses HTML5s ability to move to the next supported object if the prior object fails. That is, it uses the

Video for Everybody uses no JavaScript so its ideal for those wanting to include as few dependencies as possible in their markup. One drawback of this approach is that it wont work on Android operating systems prior to version 2.3 (Gingerbread). This technique was the basis for the markup described in Part 1 of this series so, in addition to soaking in the material found at the links herein, you can revisit that article for more information.

There are three niceties worthy of mention here. First is the Video For Everybody Generator, which assists you in putting the code together. Second is the fact that this player supports HTML5 audio playback the same way it handles video. Finally, the player site includes a fairly comprehensive description of problems you may face with HTML5 video use, as well as recommended solutions. I hope most of this material was covered in the prior installment of this series, but it wont hurt to look at the VfE Important Notes.

VideoJS is a free, open source HTML5 Video Player that falls back to Flash or the alternate video playback technology of your choice (such as Silverlight or QuickTime). It starts with embed code based on Video for Everybody, which includes basic playback functionality such as autoplay and preload. However, it also uses JavaScript to fix cross-browser inconsistencies, add support for the HTML5 tags in older versions of IE, and add features such as fullscreen display and subtitles. For the dependency-conscious, its use of JavaScript is library-independent, meaning it doesnt require packages such as jQuery or MooTools to operate.

Best of all, it provides a consistent application programming interface (API), and consistent user interface (UI), for JavaScript and Flash playback. The comprehensive API is easy to use and the UI is managed with easily edited HTML and CSS that affects not only JavaScript but also the lightweight Flash-based player provided.

As an open source player, anyone can alter the code and contribute updates to forks on GitHub. The main files are also hosted meaning that no downloads are required, the code is always updated when new features, devices, and platforms are supported, and the files may even already be cached on your visitors systems. And, unlike some hosted solutions, if you prefer to download a copy of the player, say for use without an internet connection (or to eliminate reliance on any server other than your own), you can do that, too.

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The top five cross-platform video players