Video thumbnail

Video thumbnails are a clickable placeholder image. When clicked, it opens a video player within a modal or full screen.

Video thumbnail component examples

Use as a play button for a video player within a media card.

import {MediaCard, VideoThumbnail} from '@shopify/polaris';
import React from 'react';

function VideoThumbnailExample() {
  return (
    <MediaCard
      title="Turn your side-project into a business"
      primaryAction={{
        content: 'Learn more',
        onAction: () => {},
      }}
      description={`In this course, you’ll learn how the Kular family turned their mom’s recipe book into a global business.`}
      popoverActions={[{content: 'Dismiss', onAction: () => {}}]}
    >
      <VideoThumbnail
        videoLength={80}
        thumbnailUrl="https://burst.shopifycdn.com/photos/business-woman-smiling-in-office.jpg?width=1850"
        onClick={() => console.log('clicked')}
      />
    </MediaCard>
  );
}

Props

interface VideoThumbnailProps

thumbnailUrlstring: URL source for thumbnail image.
videoLength?number: Length of video in seconds.
Defaults to 0.
videoProgress?number: Video progress in seconds. Displays a progress bar at the bottom of the thumbnail. Only renders when videoLength is also set.
Defaults to 0.
showVideoProgress?boolean: Indicate whether to allow video progress to be displayed.
Defaults to false.
accessibilityLabel?string: Custom ARIA label for play button.
Defaults to 'Play video of length {human readable duration}'.
onClick() => void: Callback on click or keypress of thumbnail. Use to trigger render of the video player in your chosen format, for example within a modal or fullscreen container.
onBeforeStartPlaying?() => void: Callback on mouse enter, focus, or touch start of thumbnail. Use to trigger video preload.

Best practices

Video thumbnails should:

Be used with a media card
Use an image that communicates the subject of the video
Include a video timestamp
Capture an image from the video to give a preview of the video content
Be cropped to a 16:9 aspect ratio
Be centered on the subject and avoid cropping of important details, like a person’s head

Required components

The video thumbnail should be wrapped in the media card component.

To present a small visual anchor for an object, use the thumbnail component

Accessibility

Images included in video thumbnails are implemented as decorative background images so that they’re skipped by screen readers.

The play button is keyboard accessible and the aria-label includes a timestamp when the videoLength prop is set. For example, an 80 second video reads as “Play video of length 1 minute and 20 seconds”. If no videoLength prop is provided, the default label reads “Play video”.