Canvas Guides (English)StudioStudio GuideStudio Media ManagementHow do I play a media file in Canvas Studio?

How do I play a media file in Canvas Studio?

In Canvas Studio, the media player includes a variety of options you can use to manage your viewing experience.

If your institution uses the Canvas Studio LTI in Canvas LMS, Studio media may be embedded as part of a Canvas course page or group content via the Rich Content Editor. Embedded media in Canvas may or may not include the comments feature.

Note:  The Canvas Studio Media Player supports keyboard shortcuts. View the Studio Media Player Keyboard Shortcuts document.

Open Media

Open Media

In your Studio account, locate the media you want to view on the My Library page [1], or using the search field [2].

To open the media file, click the View link [3].  If the video has captions, the caption icon will appear [4].

Note: Media library pages display up to 20 media files per page. To view additional media files, use the page navigation options at the bottom of the page.

Play Media

Play Media

To play the video or audio file, click the Play button [1]. View the total length of the media in the timeline [2].

View Timeline

View Timeline

To pause the media as it plays, click the Pause button [1]. As the media plays, the numbers will change to indicate the elapsed time in the media.

Set Volume

Set Volume

To set the playback volume for the media, click the Volume button [1] then click and drag the volume indicator [2]. To decrease the volume, move the indicator to the left. To increate the volume, move the indicator to the right.

Note: Playback volume is based on the current volume set for your computer. You may also have to adjust the volume for your computer output.

Set Playback Speed

Set Playback Speed

To set the playback speed of the media, click the Media Settings icon [1], then select the Speed option [2]. By default, the media plays at the set original speed (1x). You can slow the media playback (0.5x or 0.75x) or increase the playback speed (1.25x, 1.5x, or 2x). To manage the playback speed, select an option [3].

Note: You cannot change the playback speed for media uploaded from YouTube and Vimeo.

View Full Screen

View Full Screen

To view the video in full screen, click the Full Screen icon.

Note: Not all media uploads include a full screen option.

Toggle Captions

View Captions

If the media file includes a caption transcript, you can turn captions on and off from the media player.

To enable captions for the media, click the Toggle Captions On icon [1].

To turn off captions, click the Toggle Captions Off icon [2].

View Captions

View Subtitles

When closed captioning is enabled, you can view the text as the video plays.  The media player will also includes a variety of options you can use to customize your caption viewing experience.

View Comments

View Comments

If your media includes inline comments [1], they will display by default. To manage displayed inline comments in your media, click the Media Settings icon [2] and click the Comments toggle [3].

Note: You can only turn inline comments to display all or to display none. You cannot manage individual inline comment display settings.

View Comment Timeline

view Comment Timeline

When inline comments are turned on, timeline dots indicate comments added by a user [1]. A comment preview also displays in the media player [2].

You can view comments directly in the Comments tab [3]. Comments are arranged chronologically by time and are highlighted as they appear in the media timeline.

Comments can also include replies from other users [4]. Studio displays the first five replies. However, if a comment includes more than five replies, you can load additional replies.

Note: If there are more than 100 comments in a video or audio file, the inline comments option is automatically turned off. However, comments still display in the Comments tab.

View Media Details

View Media Details

If your media includes comments, you can also view the details of the video or audio file. The Details tab shows the name of the video [1], the description [2], the profile picture (if supported) and name of the user who uploaded the media [3], the date the media was uploaded [4], and any tags associated with the media [5].

Note: If you uploaded the media, you can also view the Edit Details button, which allows you to edit the details of the media.

View Keyboard Shortcuts

You can navigate through the Studio media viewer with your keyboard by pressing the Tab key consecutively. This is an accessibility feature for keyboard-only users.

Press the Tab key to cycle through the onscreen navigation items until the Keyboard Shortcuts icon displays in the Studio media viewer [1]. Then, press the Enter or Return key.

The Keyboard Shortcuts window displays common keyboard shortcuts you can use in the Studio media viewer [2].

To close the Keyboard Shortcuts window, click the Close button [3].