About
The Kaltura V7 Player delivers faster performance, broader device support, and more flexibility than the legacy V2 Player. This guide highlights the main improvements and explains technical differences for developers migrating from V2.
Upgrading to V7 does not change your media content. It only affects how videos are displayed and interacted with.
For an interactive side-by-side look at features in Player V2 and V7, see the comparison tool.
Key improvements
- Faster load and start times – Videos begin playing more quickly and with greater stability.
- Better playback across browsers and devices – Optimized for HTML5 and modern environments.
- Enhanced accessibility – Enhanced keyboard navigation and screen reader support.
- Modern, customizable design – A refreshed look with flexible UI options.
- Expanded plugin support – Built-in compatibility for analytics, advertising, and interactivity (e.g., quizzes, captions, video paths).
Technical details
Embed types
When using embed codes, you can select from one of three options: Auto Embed, Dynamic Embed, and Iframe Embed.
All of these are available through the Kaltura Management Console (KMC) for embedding both V2 and V7 players on an HTML page.
o learn more, see Embed Code differences between Kaltura V2 player and V7.
Player configuration
The Kaltura Player V7 allows setting configuration options in KMC and overriding them through either the application or the local storage.
Unlike the V2 player, the V7 player uses a JSON object for configuration, with all of the configuration settings located under this object.
The player can be configured at startup using setup() method, or during runtime using the configure() method.
Player API
While the KalturaPLayer V2 provided several classes exposing different API functions, the V7 player exposes all of its API using the KalturaPlayer class and the player instance created by invoking KalturaPlayer.setup.
Playback engines
The V7 player supports most of the media formats supported by the V2 player, except:
- HDS
- MSS
- Multicast
- P2P streaming.
V7 also adds support for offline playback.
Platform support
The V7 player supports playback on Smart TV devices, including support for native HTML5 video playback on supported platforms.
UI
The V7 player supports most of the UI functionality of the V2 player, and includes multiple graphic enhancements, giving it an updated and user-friendly user experience.
Unlike the V2 player, V7 does not require enabling plugins for standard UI controls such as quality or volume selection. These controls are available out of the box.
You can extend the UI by:
- Creating your own plugins
- Styling elements using CSS
- Disabling default UI controls if needed
Analytics
The V7 player supports most of the analytics platforms available in V2 player. For more information, please refer to https://github.com/kaltura/kaltura-player-js/blob/mwEmbed-vs-playkitjs/docs/mwembed-playkitjs-parity.md#analytics.
Advertising
In addition to VAST and VPAID ads supported in V2, the V7 player also supports VMAP ads and IMA DAI ads.
Plugins
The V7 player includes built-in support for many commonly used integrations and interactivity features. While not all V2 plugins are available in V7, most core functionality is supported natively or through updated plugin frameworks.
Note that webcasting polls aren’t supported in V7 player when using the legacy Webcasting application. To use polling functionality, use the newer Webcasting applications that support polls through the Chat & collaboration widget. For more information, see Introduction to Live Studio events in Video Portal.
V7 also supports additional plugins, including integration and interactivity plugins.
If you rely on specific V2 plugins, review feature availability as part of your migration planning.
To learn more, please visit https://github.com/kaltura/kaltura-player-js/blob/mwEmbed-vs-playkitjs/docs/mwembed-playkitjs-parity.md
