DPlayer
A JavaScript video player for web pages that shows scrolling comments (danmaku) over video.
- Stars
- 16.5k
- Forks
- 2.5k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last update
- 8 months ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
DPlayer is an HTML5 video player that website builders can add to their own pages. Its distinguishing feature is danmaku, the scrolling comments that float over a video. The README says it supports streaming formats such as HLS, FLV, MPEG DASH and WebTorrent, plus common media formats like MP4, WebM and Ogg, and features like screenshots, hotkeys, quality switching, thumbnails and subtitles.
- Embed a video player with danmaku comments on a blog or community site
- Play HLS or FLV live streams in a web page through one player
- Add thumbnails, subtitles and quality switching to a video page
Great for
- Web developers who want an embeddable video player with scrolling comments
- Sites that stream HLS, FLV, DASH or WebTorrent video and want one player for all of them
- Projects that want a player and a danmaku comment layer that they can connect to their own backend
Not ideal for
- People who just want to watch videos without writing code, since DPlayer is meant to be embedded in a website or app
- Projects that need a fully maintained, server-side media pipeline, because the README covers only the player front end
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Node.js (for installing from npm)
Install from npm
npm install dplayer --save - 2
Run it
- Install the dplayer package with npm.
- Add a container element to your HTML page.
- Create a new DPlayer instance pointing at that container and a video source.
- Open the page in a browser to check that the player loads.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the danmaku feature with a backend from the related projects list, such as DPlayer-node
- Add thumbnails with the DPlayer-thumbnails tool listed in the README
- Use HLS, FLV, DASH or WebTorrent sources for streaming, as listed in the README
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and open source under the MIT license
- Supports many streaming and media formats in one player
- Has a documented ecosystem of related projects, including Node.js, PHP and Ruby danmaku backends
Trade-offs
- Setup requires web development knowledge; the README is oriented to developers
- The README does not state how actively it is maintained beyond the last push date, so check recent activity before relying on it
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DPlayer (this) | 16.5k | Library | intermediate | 8 months ago | Web developers who want an embeddable video player with scrolling comments |
| plyr | 30k | Library | beginner | 16 days ago | Developers maintaining an existing site that already uses Plyr |
| livego | 10.2k | App | intermediate | 11 months ago | Developers who want to self-host a basic live streaming endpoint |
| react-player | 10.3k | Library | intermediate | 1 months ago | React developers who need to embed videos from several services behind one component |
| srs | 29.4k | App | intermediate | 6 days ago | Developers building live streaming backends that need several delivery protocols |
| ZY-Player | 14.5k | App | beginner | 3.7 years ago | People who want a desktop player for online video sources without ads |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.