Wistia users may have recently experienced the issue of videos not playing, instead displaying only a blank, black screen. This issue is due to an issue on Wistia’s end. Wistia engineers are actively working on a fix, however, during this time, playback of some embeds may still be affected.
The source of the issue arises from particular settings which limit playback on older versions of some browsers. When an outdated browser attempts to play a video, Wistia’s default response is to trigger a black screen. The good news is that users can resolve this issue on their end, even while Wistia works on a permanent solution.
To remedy the issue, users should first ask their viewers to update their browser to the latest version. They should also consider encoding their videos with multiple formats to give more choice to viewers with different browsers and should also make sure their files are in a modern container format.
In conclusion, Wistia is actively working on a solution for the black screen issue, however in the meantime, users looking to avoid the issue would be wise to ensure that their viewers are using the most up-to-date version of the browser they are using. Encoding videos in multiple formats and having modern container formats is also recommended.
