InDesign Publish Online Video No Longer Works

[MCB25]

I have a publish online document with a video that uses multistate objects (basically I show a play button initially and when people click play then the video pops up - and then there is a close button to close the video and go back to the play button).

It worked just fine previously.. I had a pc tuneup so updates were done including drivers, etc. Now when I am on that page I am able to click the initial play button and it pops up the video; however, the play button on the video is now greyed out. I attached images of the video details and screenshot of how it looks. No idea why it stopped working.

Anyone have any idea how to resolve this? Thanks for your time!

[MCB25]

I forgot to include the video screenshot for reference - see attached and question above. Thanks!

[BobLevine]

I don't see how this could be an InDesign issue if it was working before. Can you post a Publish Online link?

[MCB25]

I don't understand it. Zero issues before updates so maybe has something to do with it. I did a test and replaced with another video and it worked so no clue why this does not work when it did previously.. Certain it is setup correctly since the other video worked. Probably not InDesign issue - not sure what would disable it. Thanks!  https://indd.adobe.com/view/ba6bebc2-6981-40cd-bdf6-f8dbce611bdf 

[BobLevine]

Try placing the video in an empty page and publish that to test it.

[MCB25]

Thanks. I did a test with their video and two other test videos from Pixabay - cherry blossom and concert video. The concert video works and cherry blossom do not. See link and attachments. Still don't understand why their video won't work when it did before. Not sure why the cherry blossom one does not work - could it be due to size although. I looked at media and can see the actual videos and test play = just does not play when publish online.

https://indd.adobe.com/view/2857be31-3f82-4fb1-a652-3bc65139f8b7

[BobLevine]

Did you check the encoding on the video? Do they play on their own in the operating system?

[MCB25]

I can play just fine when I open in explorer. Also it does play when I am in the InDesign doc and view it in the EPUB Interactivity Preview - works just fine in the preview (see attached). Where can I find the encoding? Thanks Bob.

[BobLevine]

What's the file size of the video that works and the ones that don't?

[MCB25]

There is a big difference - the one that doesn't work is 71.8 MB and the one that does work is 4.47 MB. However, I have been working on this project for a while and made edits to other pages and republished online many times and the 71.8 MB video always worked just fine. Plus would think it would work if I see it playing in the preview (able to test the functionality of that page in the preview where I can click the play button to bring up the video, then click the play on the video, then test the close button). Stumped.

[BobLevine]

I think I read somewhere about a bug with files larger than 10MB. You can try rolling InDesign back to 20.3 or 20.2 and see if that fixes it or join the prerelease program.

[BobLevine]

It looks like 20.4.1 is now rolling out. Check for updates in the CC Desktop app and run that. It fixes this issue.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @MCB25,

Thanks for sharing all those details and test links. I hope Bob's suggestion helped narrow things down. Since some videos are working and others aren't, it might be related to the encoding or format of the video files themselves, especially after the system updates.

To help us investigate further, could you please confirm the version of InDesign you're currently using and the details of your Windows OS? Also, if possible, please share the packaged InDesign file with us so we can test it on our end. You can follow the steps here to package your file: https://adobe.ly/4efGmKY
If the file contains confidential content, feel free to send it via DM. You can use any of the public cloud service like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., to create a sharable download link.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Abhishek Rao · Accepted solution]

Hi @MCB25 and everyone,

Thanks so much for sharing all the detailed information and test links.

From what you've described and based on other reports we've seen, there was a known issue in InDesign 20.4 that affected video playback in Publish Online, especially with larger files. This issue has been addressed in the latest InDesign 20.4.1 update.

Could you please try updating to version 20.4.1 and test the issue again? That should fix the problem you're experiencing with the video not playing after being published online.

Reference similar community thread: https://adobe.ly/4lq1noI

Let us know how it goes!

Abhishek 

[Reporting328204624vvs]

I'm having the same issue. The video files are working perfectly on my end, even when previewed in the EPUB. But when published online, the video is not playing. I've tried restarting Indesign, compressing the video file, renaming the file, reseting the preferences--but none of them works. What worked for me is uploading the video on Youtube and embedding them on Indesign. Although i can't fully control how it appears the way I want it to. 

[BobLevine]

Update InDesign to 20.4.1.