How to embed an autoplaying YouTube video in an iframe?

Question

I am trying to embed the new iframe version of a YouTube video and get it to auto play.

As far as I can tell, there is no way of doing this by amending flags to the URL. Is there a way to do it by using JavaScript & the API?

Answer 1

This works in Chrome but not Firefox 3.6 (warning: RickRoll video):

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The JavaScript API for iframe embeds exists, but is still posted as an experimental feature.

UPDATE: The iframe API is now fully supported and "Creating YT.Player objects - Example 2" shows how to set "autoplay" in JavaScript.

Answer 2

Since April 2018, Google made some changes to the Autoplay Policy. You not only need to add the autoplay=1 as a query param, but also add allow='autoplay' as an iframe's attribute

So you will have to do something like this:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?autoplay=1" allow='autoplay'></iframe>

Answer 3

The embedded code of youtube has autoplay off by default. Simply add autoplay=1at the end of "src" attribute. For example:

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xzvScRnF6MU?autoplay=1" width="960" height="447" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Answer 4

August 2018 I didn't find a working example on the iframe implementation. Other questions were related to Chrome only, which gave it away a little.

You'll have to mute sound mute=1 in order to autoplay on Chrome. FF and IE seem to be working just fine using autoplay=1 as parameter.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/{{YOUTUBE-ID}}?autoplay=1&mute=1" name="youtube embed" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Answer 5

2014 iframe embed on how to embed a youtube video with autoplay and no suggested videos at end of clip

rel=0&autoplay 

Example Below: .

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JWgp7Ny3bOo?rel=0&amp;autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Answer 6

at the end of the iframe src, add &enablejsapi=1 to allow the js API to be used on the video

and then with jquery:

jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ) {
  $('.video-selector iframe')[0].contentWindow.postMessage('{"event":"command","func":"playVideo","args":""}', '*');
});

this should play the video automatically on document.ready

note, that you could also use this inside a click function to click on another element to start the video

More importantly, you cannot auto-start videos on a mobile device so users will always have to click on the video-player itself to start the video

Edit: I'm actually not 100% sure on document.ready the iframe will be ready, because YouTube could still be loading the video. I'm actually using this function inside a click function:

$('.video-container').on('click', function(){
  $('video-selector iframe')[0].contentWindow.postMessage('{"event":"command","func":"playVideo","args":""}', '*');
  // add other code here to swap a custom image, etc
});

Answer 7

The flags, or parameters that you can use with IFRAME and OBJECT embeds are documented here; the details about which parameter works with what player are also clearly mentioned:

YouTube Embedded Players and Player Parameters

You will notice that autoplay is supported by all players (AS3, AS2 and HTML5).

Answer 8

Multiple queries tip for those who don't know (past me and future me)

If you're making a single query with the url just ?autoplay=1 works as shown by mjhm's answer

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?autoplay=1"></iframe>

If you're making multiple queries remember the first one begins with a ? while the rest begin with a &

Say you want to turn off related videos but enable autoplay...

This works

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?rel=0&autoplay=1"></iframe>

and this works

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?autoplay=1&rel=0"></iframe>

But these won't work..

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?rel=0?autoplay=1"></iframe>

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0&autoplay=1&rel=0"></iframe>

example comparisons

https://jsfiddle.net/Hastig/p4dpo5y4/

more info

Read NextLocal's reply below for more info about using multiple query strings

Answer 9

To have the accepted answer by mjhm working on Chrome 66 in May 2018, I added allow=autoplay to the iframe and enable_js=1 to the query string:

<iframe allow=autoplay width="420px" height="345px" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oHg5SJYRHA0?autoplay=1&enable_js=1"></iframe>

Answer 10

Nowadays I include a new attribute "allow" on iframe tag, for example:

allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"

The final code is:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/[VIDEO-CODE]?autoplay=1" 
frameborder="0" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;"
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe>

Answer 11

1 - add &enablejsapi=1 to IFRAME SRC

2 - jQuery func:

  $('iframe#your_video')[0].contentWindow.postMessage('{"event":"command","func":"playVideo","args":""}', '*');

Works fine

Answer 12

To use javascript api,

<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>
  <div id="ytapiplayer">
    You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.
  </div>

  <script type="text/javascript">

    var params = { allowScriptAccess: "always" };
    var atts = { id: "myytplayer" };
    swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.youtube.com/v/OyHoZhLdgYw?enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&version=3",
                       "ytapiplayer", "425", "356", "8", null, null, params, atts);

  </script>

To play the youtube with the id:

swfobject.embedSWF

reference: https://developers.google.com/youtube/js_api_referencemagazine

Answer 13

<iframe width="560" height="315" 
        src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9IILMHo4RCQ?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;autoplay=1" 
        frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Answer 14

December 2018,

Looking for an AUTOPLAY, LOOP, MUTE youtube video for react.

Other answers didn't worked.

I found a solution with a library: react-youtube

class Video extends Component {

    _onReady(event) {
        // add mute
        event.target.mute();
        // add autoplay
        event.target.playVideo();
    }

    render() {
        const opts = {
            width: '100%',
            height: '700px',
            playerVars: {
                // remove video controls 
                controls: 0,
                // remove related video
                rel: 0
            }
        };

        return (
            <YouTube
                videoId="oHg5SJYRHA0"
                opts={opts}
                // add autoplay
                onReady={this._onReady}
                // add loop
                onEnd={this._onReady}
            />
        )
    }

}