Jul 14, 2016 - By Noreen T. M.

HTML5 Video Player Beta Begins Today

We are excited to start beta testing one of the Twitch community’s most highly requested features: a full HTML5 video player!

Our new HTML5 video player is designed to let you watch the same streams you love with a smoother experience.

  • Faster loading — we expect streams to start faster, letting you join streams more quickly!

  • More consistent video — when your favorite streamers broadcast in 30 or 60 frames per second (fps), many users will see a noticeable improvement in video stability.

  • Fewer Interruptions — HTML5 is known for going easy on your CPU. With extended battery life and less overheating, you can keep watching and chatting during those marathon streaming sessions.

Starting today, the HTML5 Player Beta will open to Twitch Turbo subscribers so we can begin to collect feedback on the new player. We plan to steadily expand beta access to more users toward the end of the summer based on the data we gather in this initial test.

If you are randomly selected to be part of the beta test, you will see an alert on the video player letting you know that you can click the gear icon to turn on HTML5.

We mentioned in June that the focus of this release to Twitch Turbo subscribers is on identifying breaking points and areas for improvement. Because this is a beta test, we know that there could still be some unresolved bugs that impact your viewing experience, so we’ve put together some details about what you can expect from this early version of HTML5 on Twitch. Please visit our Guide to the Twitch HTML5 Video Player for more info.

Update: Access to the HTML5 Player Beta has expanded beyond Twitch Turbo subscribers as of August 3, 2016. Read more.

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