Why can I view some Facebook videos and not others? [ASK MR. NOOBIE]

QUESTION: Hello. I hope you can help me understand what is happening. I use an iPad most of the time. I prefer the web version of Facebook instead of the app. Since iPad doesn’t support FLASH, I normally have to go to the FB app to see videos people post. Last week one day I was able to see the videos in the web version of FB and was so excited. Then the next day it was back to not being able to see them. Then yesterday I was able to see them again and can still see today. Do you have any idea what changed and if this change will continue. I love not having to flip back and forth from web to app in order to view videos. I’ve tried to find any info about this online and haven’t found anything. Hope you can help. I’m the type person who likes to know the whys and details. Thanks. – Susan H. from Milledgeville, Georgia

ANSWER” I used to be exactly like you, Susan. I hated the Facebook app on my iPad and used the web version in its place. I even went as far as to create a shortcut to the Facebook website on my iPad so I would trick myself into thinking I was still using an app.

But over time, the app kept getting more and more useful and I can honestly say the Facebook app is now better than the web version. So if you haven’t given the app a real run-through lately, I would encourage you to give it another shot.

As for the videos, I don’t have 100% of the information I need to answer your question but I’ll do my best. What I would have liked to have known was if a specific video played correctly in the web version but not in the app or vice versa.

It’s all about the encoding

Either way, it all comes down to something called encoding which is a process a video goes through when it is uploaded to Facebook such that the video is playable on both Facebook’s website and in the app.

As you already know, the iPad doesn’t (and never will) support Flash. The fact that some of the videos you encountered played correctly really has nothing to do with Flash suddenly working or not working. Like I said, it will never work. Rather, the video was encoded into a format that is playable on your iPad. The newer HTML5 format is an example of a format that allows videos to play just fine on your iPad.

So my answer to your question is that the reason a video does or doesn’t play on your iPad (regardless of whether you are using the web version or the app) is how the video is encoded.

Most of the videos I see on Facebook these days all play fine on my iPad. It’s been quite a while since I received the message telling me my iPad didn’t support the video format.

While I may not have answered your question about a specific video, I hope this explanation at least clears things up a bit. Thanks for writing!

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