Vimeo’s Video Player Gets A Facelift, CEO Touts Fast Speeds

One of the best online video players has gotten better. Vimeo has given its video player a makeover, and some of its other services will benefit as a result. The new player upgrades from flash to HTML5, while also enhancing both mobile viewing and the site’s On Demand library.

The HTML5 upgrade will make the mobile viewing experience much smoother, according to a report in TheWrap. Videos will load 50% faster on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, which account for 40% of all Vimeo views. “The change isn’t about fixing things but constantly updating,” said Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor. “The HTML5 default makes the player much nicer with Android devices. That’s a massive population, particularly as mobile usage continues to explode.”

The change will also allow users to buy videos from the Vimeo On Demand service within the player itself. As CNET notes, the faster performance enabled by the player update will benefit this business on its own, even without factoring in the increased ease of use. “Any Vimeo player becomes a point of sale,” Trainor said.  “While people are accustomed to purchasing through Amazon or iTunes, you have to yet to see it be distributed at web scale. You can’t embed iTunes or Amazon on a website. To think now that you can, we’re very excited.”

Other new updates include the support of both subtitles and closed captioning. For a rundown of all the features available on Vimeo’s player, check out this page. Like with most things Vimeo, it’s pretty snazzy.