What is an AddOn? ( Return to Help Index )

JW Player AddOns come in three types: Plugins, Skins, and Modules. While they do serve a number of different purposes, we've placed them all under the heading of "AddOns" because their fundamental use is the same -- they all extend the JW Media Player in some way.

Plugins are bits of software written in Actionscript 3 that get loaded into the JW Player via Flash variables in the HTML embed code. Confusing? Simply put, they're little packs that add cool functionality to the JW Player. And their potential uses are limited mainly by a developer's imagination -- statistics engines, visualizers, active playlists, sharing and networking plugins, video rotators, and so on. But that's just the beginning, get creative -- video editing, games, web-cam recording, and...what else? If you've got ideas -- and maybe even want to get involved in creating them -- please contact us.

Skins are exactly what they sound like -- ways to redesign the look of the JW Player. Again, imaginations are the limit -- as long as a skin adheres to a specific nested clip structure (find out more about that via tutorials @ Developer.LongtailVideo.com) they can be added to any player with the addition of one simple Flash variable in the embed code. Browse our ever-growing repository for free-to-use, ready-to-go skins -- or find one you like as a starting point, download it with its source file, and amend the source however you see fit!

Finally, Modules are a unique class of AddOns. They don't work "within" the JW Player, like Plugins and Skins do. Instead, they are generally a bridge between the JW Player and other applications, platforms, and CMSs. For instance, there are a growing number of video-based extensions for popular content management systems like Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress. Some of the most popular incorporate the JW Player into their platform. Thus, they become something that we consider an AddOn -- as they extend the function and uses of the JW Player -- and we knight them all Modules.

The problem with Modules, of course, is that they come in so many different shapes and sizes, we couldn't possibly incorporate them all under one roof. So, given that, when you're browsing modules on our site, please note that attempting to get them will redirect you to the Developer's homepage. This is true of anything listed as a module, and we are not responsible for anything that occurs off of our site (though we, of course, check out any module listed in our directory).

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us, or head over to the Support Forum.