media-poster

Poster image component that displays a thumbnail until video playback starts

Anatomy

Import the component:

<media-poster>
  <img src="poster.jpg" alt="Video preview" />
</media-poster>

Behavior

The poster is visible before playback starts. Once the user plays or seeks, the poster hides permanently — pausing does not bring it back. The poster reappears when a new source is loaded.

Styling

Style the poster with the [data-visible] attribute:

media-poster:not([data-visible]) {
  display: none;
}

You control the child <img> — this means srcset, sizes, loading="lazy", and framework image components all work naturally.

Accessibility

Unlike the native <video poster> attribute, this component allows you to provide accessible text alternatives for screen readers via the alt attribute on your child <img>. This means you can describe the poster image (e.g., alt="Keynote speaker at a conference") or mark it as decorative with alt="" if it doesn’t convey meaningful information.

Examples

Basic Usage

import { createPlayer, PlayButton, Poster } from '@videojs/react';
import { Video, videoFeatures } from '@videojs/react/video';

import './BasicUsage.css';

const Player = createPlayer({ features: videoFeatures });

export default function BasicUsage() {
  return (
    <Player.Provider>
      <Player.Container className="react-poster-basic">
        <Video src="https://stream.mux.com/BV3YZtogl89mg9VcNBhhnHm02Y34zI1nlMuMQfAbl3dM/highest.mp4" playsInline />

        <Poster
          className="react-poster-basic__poster"
          src="https://image.mux.com/BV3YZtogl89mg9VcNBhhnHm02Y34zI1nlMuMQfAbl3dM/thumbnail.jpg"
        />

        <PlayButton
          className="react-poster-basic__button"
          render={(props, state) => <button {...props}>{state.paused ? 'Play' : 'Pause'}</button>}
        />
      </Player.Container>
    </Player.Provider>
  );
}

.react-poster-basic {
  position: relative;
}

.react-poster-basic video {
  width: 100%;
}

.react-poster-basic__poster {
  position: absolute;
  inset: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  object-fit: cover;
  pointer-events: none;
  transition: opacity 0.25s;
}

.react-poster-basic__poster:not([data-visible]) {
  opacity: 0;
}

.react-poster-basic__button {
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 10px;
  left: 10px;
  padding-block: 8px;
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.75);
  backdrop-filter: blur(10px);
  color: black;
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25);
  border-radius: 9999px;
  padding-inline: 16px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

<!-- biome-ignore-all lint/a11y/useMediaCaption: TODO -->
<video-player class="html-poster-basic">
    <media-container>
        <video
            src="https://stream.mux.com/BV3YZtogl89mg9VcNBhhnHm02Y34zI1nlMuMQfAbl3dM/highest.mp4"
            playsinline
        ></video>

        <media-poster class="html-poster-basic__poster">
            <img
                src="https://image.mux.com/BV3YZtogl89mg9VcNBhhnHm02Y34zI1nlMuMQfAbl3dM/thumbnail.jpg"
                alt="Video thumbnail"
                />
            </media-poster>

            <media-play-button class="html-poster-basic__button">
                <span class="show-when-paused">Play</span>
                <span class="show-when-playing">Pause</span>
            </media-play-button>
    </media-container>
</video-player>

.html-poster-basic {
  display: block;
  position: relative;
}

.html-poster-basic video {
  width: 100%;
}

.html-poster-basic__poster {
  position: absolute;
  inset: 0;
  pointer-events: none;
  transition: opacity 0.25s;
}

.html-poster-basic__poster:not([data-visible]) {
  opacity: 0;
}

.html-poster-basic__poster img {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  object-fit: cover;
}

.html-poster-basic__button {
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 10px;
  left: 10px;
  padding-block: 8px;
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.75);
  backdrop-filter: blur(10px);
  color: black;
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25);
  border-radius: 9999px;
  padding-inline: 16px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

.html-poster-basic__button .show-when-paused,
.html-poster-basic__button .show-when-playing {
  display: none;
}

.html-poster-basic__button[data-paused] .show-when-paused {
  display: inline;
}

.html-poster-basic__button:not([data-paused]) .show-when-playing {
  display: inline;
}

import '@videojs/html/video/player';
import '@videojs/html/ui/play-button';
import '@videojs/html/ui/poster';

API Reference

State

State is accessible via the render, className, and style props.

State is reflected as data attributes for CSS styling.

Property	Type
`visible`	`boolean`

Data attributes

Attribute	Type
`data-visible`