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Inspiring
April 12, 2025
Answered

.MP4 videos no longer beginning to play on page load

  • April 12, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 426 views

I routinely add stock or self-made AE or AN mp4 videos to epub docs. Generally animations that spice up the pages as accents. Usually pretty small and ornamental. In the Media panel, I check the boxes, Play on Load, and Loop. This has worked fine for years. Today, working on a new project, these checked boxes no longer cause the media to play. It's necessary to click the Play button in order to get them to work. 

 

Has something changed?

Correct answer Laura Brady

It may be a change in the reading system you are using, and not the fault of the InDesign export at all. I would suggest testing it in a few different environments — Adobe Digital Editions, Apple Books, Thorium, etc. to see if it is auto-playing in some places but not others. 

3 replies

Laura BradyCorrect answer
Inspiring
April 14, 2025

It may be a change in the reading system you are using, and not the fault of the InDesign export at all. I would suggest testing it in a few different environments — Adobe Digital Editions, Apple Books, Thorium, etc. to see if it is auto-playing in some places but not others. 

rsbisaAuthor
Inspiring
April 14, 2025

Thank you, Laura. This was helpful, as it led me to discover the problem: I'm an idiot. 

The working objects from previous work were not .MP4 (the object for which I deploy for interactive PDFs), but OAM objects, created in An!  The updated EPUB with the OAM is working famously.  

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
April 14, 2025

Hi @rsbisa,

 

Thanks for sharing the details. I tried reproducing the issue on my end, and the video playback seems to be working as expected. Could you please share your sample InDesign file, so I can take a closer look? Also, let me know which application or EPUB reader you're using to test the output.

 

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

Robert at ID-Tasker
Legend
April 12, 2025

What platform, OS and InDesign versions? 

 

rsbisaAuthor
Inspiring
April 12, 2025

Sorry! Should have included: iD 20.2, Mac Mini, Sequoia 15.3.2 (24D81). 

I have produced an example of this issue here.