Each YouTube video has four generated images. They are predictably formatted as follows:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/0.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/1.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/2.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/3.jpg
The first one in the list is a full size image and others are thumbnail images. The default thumbnail image (i.e., one of 1.jpg
, 2.jpg
, 3.jpg
) is:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/default.jpg
For the high quality version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/hqdefault.jpg
There is also a medium quality version of the thumbnail, using a URL similar to the HQ:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/mqdefault.jpg
For the standard definition version of the thumbnail, use a URL similar to this:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/sddefault.jpg
For the maximum resolution version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault.jpg
All of the above URLs are available over HTTP too. Additionally, the slightly shorter hostname i3.ytimg.com
works in place of img.youtube.com
in the example URLs above.
Alternatively, you can use the YouTube Data API (v3) to get thumbnail images.
Just put "?autoplay=1" in the url the video will autoload.
So your url would be:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/JW5meKfy3fY?autoplay=1
In case you wanna disable autoplay, just make 1
to 0
as
?autoplay=0
Best Answer
UIWebView
andMPMoviePlayerController
are not available for tvOS. Our next option is to useAVPlayer
to play YouTube videos.AVPlayer
cannot play a YouTube video from a standard YouTube URL, ie.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE
. It needs a direct URL to the video file. Using HCYoutubeParser we can accomplish exactly that. Once we have the URL we need, we can play it with ourAVPlayer
like so:Note that this is NOT allowed under YouTube's TOS. Use it at your own risk. Your app may stop working at any point if YouTube notices you are not following the TOS or if YouTube changes the embed code it generates.