A new version of the VideoPress plugin for WordPress is now available. The latest release improves page assembly time, adds support for HTML5 Ogg Theora/Vorbis playback, increases the minimum version of Flash required for video playback, and includes autoplay support. We recommend all users upgrade their plugin through their blog’s administrative dashboard to take advantage of these new features, speed, and improved stability.

Communication between your WordPress blog and VideoPress servers now uses a slimmer data response encoded as JSON. Information about each video is cached locally on your server, reducing the time needed to build page markup.

Self-hosted WordPress blogs can limit video playback to free video formats unrestricted by known patent claims or intellectual property licensing hurdles. Set the Freedom level of all VideoPress videos via a blog setting or for individual videos via a shortcode parameter. Simply toggle the “Free formats” option under your blog’s media settings to display all VideoPress videos using an Ogg file container with Theora video and Vorbis audio. You may display individual videos in Free software formats by adding freedom=true to your VideoPress shortcode.

The VideoPress plugin for WordPress now supports initiating video playback once the video object is loaded onto your page. Add a shortcode parameter autoplay=true to enable autoplay for individual videos. The shortcode parameter affects both Flash and HTML5 video playback options. Videos with restrictions, such as adult-rated content or embed privacy settings, will not autoplay.

Advanced WordPress users may alter Flash parameters used by VideoPress for each video. Add a new filter action for the video_flash_params filter to customize style elements such as window mode or background color. Altering your Flash parameters may break playback so be careful.

The minimum Flash version required to display our OSMF Flash player is 10.0.0. This value is now reflected in the SWFObject handlers included on each video page.