THEOplayer and Microsoft Azure Media Services announce collaboration

THEOplayer, a leader in HTML5 streaming technology, and Microsoft Azure Media Services announced their joint innovation in online streaming within the cloud. The partnership allows publishers and broadcasters to benefit from cloud flexibility as well as the easy and seamless streaming experience with THEOplayer.

What is THEOplayer?

THEOplayer, of THEO Technologies based in Belgium, is one of the world’s most comprehensive HTML5 HLS based video players for streaming content on the web. With THEOplayer, video publishers can use a single video player with a single streaming protocol to reach different popular platforms and devices. THEOplayer supports HLS fully in HTML5 on popular Desktop and Mobile Web browsers. It completely removes the need for plug-ins such as Flash or Silverlight, or transcoding video content in multiple protocols, and dramatically simplifies distributing video content online.

What is the relationship about?

Microsoft Azure Media Services supports all of the popular streaming formats including MPEG-DASH and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Azure Media Services also provides its Microsoft Azure Media Player, a cross-platform HTML5 player framework that plays back content streamed from Azure Media Services. With this collaboration between THEOplayer and Azure Media Services, customers now have a choice of using a proven and integrated fully HTML5-based HLS player that can playback HLS on all popular platforms without the need for any plug-ins.

Azure Media Services combines powerful and highly scalable cloud-based transcoding, encryption, and streaming to help customers reach large audiences on today’s most popular digital devices, said Vishal Sood, Principal PM Manager, Azure Media Services, Microsoft Corp. With THEOplayer, Azure Media Services is now able to give video publishers additional choices to stream video content to browsers without needing any plugins.

THEOplayer supports the following capabilities for Azure Media Services customers

• Fully HTML5-based cross-platform playback for HTTP Live streaming (HLS on Desktop and Mobile)
• Full support for adaptive streaming on Mobile Web on Android, Windows Phone and iOS
• Support on all popular Desktop browsers such as IE10, IE11, Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Opera and Vivaldi without the need for Flash
• Cross-platform ID3 support on all devices and platforms
• Playback of AES-12 bit encrypted content
• Multi-audi tracks for efficient delivery
• Clip and share videos with Frame Accurate Clipping in HLS

In addition, the other features and possibilities of THEOplayer such as full customization, cloud or self-hosted player, program-date-time, advertisement support, etc. are fully supported in combination with Azure Media Services.

THEO technologies is committed to helping businesses transform and simplify their online streaming workflows, said Steven Tielemans, CEO of THEO Technologies. Our collaboration with Microsoft allows us to offer a complete end-to-end solution to broadcasters and online publishers. They can easily manage their video content in the secure environment of the Azure cloud and reach every device with THEOplayer.

How can I use THEOplayer?

THEOplayer has set up a landing page for Azure Media Services customers to help you get started. Here you can insert the stream URLs you get from the Microsoft Azure Management portal and see them in action, as well as find all the information for getting started with THEOplayer yourself.

So head on over to the landing page for Azure Media Services customers to try it out now.