Storyline 360: Streaming Video

No more video buffering! Streaming video lets you deliver video content to all learners, regardless of their internet speed. Storyline 360 automatically adapts the video quality—high, medium, or low—to the learner's internet speed to provide smoother playback and keep them engaged.

Adjust the Publish Quality

Choose streaming video (adaptive video quality) when publishing so your learners can enjoy video content without buffering.

1. Go to the Home tab on the Storyline ribbon and click Publish.
2. When the Publish window appears, select your environment on the left. Streaming video is available when publishing for Review 360, Web, or LMS/LRS.
3. Click the Quality link in the properties list.
4. Select Adaptive video quality, as shown below, and click OK.

About the Published Output

Courses published with adaptive quality won't play videos when viewed on your local computer. The message below displays when you try to view streaming videos locally. Upload your published output to a server or Review 360 to play the streaming video content.

A few additional details to note:

• The output folder size for adaptive streaming videos is larger than static videos due to the production of multiple files with different stream rates.
• For courses published with adaptive quality, the published output has an HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) folder for each video in your project. (HLS is the same technology that YouTube uses to stream video content.)
• For courses published with static quality, the published output includes a single MP4 video file for each video in your project.
• Videos shorter than 2 seconds always publish as single MP4 video files, even if the adaptive video quality is selected.

FAQs

Find answers to common questions about using streaming video in Storyline 360 below.

How does Storyline 360 know which streaming video quality (high, medium, or low) to play?

When you publish with adaptive quality, Storyline 360 produces an HLS folder for each video in your course in the published output. That folder contains Transport Stream (TS) and M3U8 files, which help Storyline 360 determine which streaming video quality to play. TS files store video data with a compression format of MPEG-2. M3U8 files are plain text files that describe where the corresponding audio and video files are located, as explained below.

• Storyline 360 references the main.m3u8 file to decide which streaming video quality to play based on the learner's internet speed.
• The stream_0.m3u8 file contains the audio data.
• The stream_1.m3u8 file contains data for the high streaming video quality.
• The stream_2.m3u8 file contains data for the medium streaming video quality.
• The stream_3.m3u8 file contains data for the low streaming video quality.

Does Storyline 360 preload all streaming video qualities for each slide?

No. Storyline 360 will preload the high, medium, or low streaming video quality depending on the learner's internet speed.

Tip: Storyline 360 preloads videos, including streaming videos, before learners interact with a slide to prevent interruptions. Learn more about how course content is preloaded.

Is streaming video supported in 360° images?

Yes. As of the April 2023 update for Storyline 360, adaptive streaming video is supported for videos in 360° images.

Compatibility

Streaming video is exclusive to the modern player style in Storyline 360 February 2023 update and later. You can open, edit, and publish project files with adaptive bitrate streaming in Storyline 3 and earlier versions of Storyline 360. However, videos revert to static video quality, which could buffer over slow connections.