Audio widget in WP 4.8 - unsupported audio files (eliminate support for WMV and WMA files)

[Guido07111975]

Hi members of Core team,

When using an unsupported audio file such as .wma (Windows Media Audio) it doesn't display nicely in both frontend/backend. Check attachment.

Guido

[Guido07111975]

WP 4.8 audio widget

[Guido07111975]

WP 4.8 audio widget (dashboard)

[vijustin]

Took a stab at adjusting the CSS to produce a better output for non supported audio files.

[westonruter]

@vijustin Modifying mediaelementplayer.min.css isn't an option since it is part of a 3rd-party library. I see a similar issue was posted in ​https://github.com/mediaelement/mediaelement/issues/1728

@Guido07111975 Thanks for the report. You'll notice actually that if you have a WMA file uploaded to your media library, it is not listed among the files that you can select. How did you select the WMA file to begin with? Note that there is a quirk with the uploader whereby it is not restricting the file types for upload according to what is shown in the media browser. Is that how you were able to upload and select an WMA file? See ​https://github.com/xwp/wp-core-media-widgets/issues/128

Or did you select it via supplying a URL to embed?

[vijustin]

Working off of Version 4.8-beta1-40787, when selecting audio files to add the the Audio Widget .wma files are showing as an option for me.

[Guido07111975]

@westonruter I was able to upload .wma file directly in the media library and select it while adding the audio widget (check new attachment).

I can also upload .wma file while adding the audio widget BUT it's not listed there after upload is finished. When visiting the media library afterwards, the file is listed there.

Guido

[Guido07111975]

I can select .wma file when adding audio widget

[westonruter]

Indeed. I can see in the Ajax request that the MIME types being queried are: audio/mpeg,audio/ogg,audio/x-ms-wma,audio/mpeg,audio/wav. The audio/x-ms-wma format really shouldn't be included because it is not embeddable. If MediaElement.js isn't able to play them, then they shouldn't be included in wp.media.view.settings.embedMimes.

And in fact, I see that MediaElement.js no longer supports these formats:

Support for wmv and wma has been dropped since most of the major players are not supporting it as well.

The solution to this may be to eliminate WMV and WMA from being considered embeddable media.

@Guido07111975 @vijustin the behavior you see for embedding WMV and WMA files is no better in the context of the edit post screen, is it?

[Guido07111975]

@westonruter no strange behaviour when adding unsupported .wma file in post or page. So yes, I can add this file type in post or page.

[vijustin]

@westonruter Confirmed, when adding .wma files in the post editor the "Attachment Display Setting" defaults to Embed Media Player which creates the same issue as the audio widget. Removing aduio/x-ms-wma as a supported mime type for embeding seems like the a good solution to this problem.

I spent some time looking so I could submit a .diff, but I'm can't seem to find where WordPress defines which mime types should be supported for embedding. Looks like this one is beyond me at the moment.

[westonruter]

Remove wma and wmv from being WP-supported

[westonruter]

@vijustin @Guido07111975 try 40819.2.diff​

[vijustin]

@westonruter Ahh man can't believe I couldn't find that.

On a positive note after applying the patch locally the Audio Widget no longer offers .wma files as an option and adding media during post editing no longer offers the 'embedded media player' as an option and instead defaults to 'link to media file".

[westonruter]

Need a 2nd opinion on the impacts for removing WMA and WMV format support.

[westonruter]

This will probably need a dev note.

[Guido07111975]

@westonruter I'm having the same experience as @vijustin describes:

On a positive note after applying the patch locally the Audio Widget no longer offers .wma files as an option and adding media during post editing no longer offers the 'embedded media player' as an option and instead defaults to 'link to media file".

Besides this I'm wondering whether it's possible to do a filetype check upon upload. I can upload all supported filetypes while adding the (audio/video/image) widget.

Guido

[joemcgill]

Based on MediaElement.js dropping support for these filetypes, I think it makes sense for us to remove embed support since the current behavior creates confusing user expectations.

[westonruter]

Replying to Guido07111975:

Besides this I'm wondering whether it's possible to do a filetype check upon upload. I can upload all supported filetypes while adding the (audio/video/image) widget.

Yes. I believe this should be addressed with the resolution of ​https://github.com/xwp/wp-core-media-widgets/issues/128

Essentially, when opening the media modal for the audio widget, the uploader should prevent uploading WMA files at that time. @joemcgill is there a trac ticket for this anywhere?

[westonruter]

In 40813:

Media: Remove core embedding support for WMV and WMA files since MediaElement.js has discontinued supporting them.

Plugins may continue to add embedding support for these file formats by re-adding them via the wp_video_extensions and wp_audio_extensions filters while also implementing fallback rendering routines via the wp_video_shortcode_override and wp_audio_shortcode_override filters.

See #39994, #39995.
Fixes #40819.

[afercia]

Replying to westonruter:

Support for wmv and wma has been dropped since most of the major players are not supporting it as well.

I may be wrong, but I think that applies to MediaElement starting with version 3. WordPress still uses 2.22, see #39686.
Regardless, FWIW I'd agree with removing core embedding support for WMV and WMA files. Not sure what should be done with these two lines: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/src/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/wp-mediaelement.js?rev=40659#L6

[westonruter]

Dev note: ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/05/22/removal-of-core-embedding-support-for-wmv-and-wma-file-formats/

[westonruter]

Replying to afercia:

Not sure what should be done with these two lines: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/src/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/wp-mediaelement.js?rev=40659#L6

I don't see any harm in keeping them around for now, but eventually they can be removed.

[Guido07111975]

Hi,

Just installed 4.8 beta 2 and I notice an unsupported file still isn't listed very nice in dashboard. Check attachment.

@vijustin added this attachment last week: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/40819/40819.diff

Guido

[Guido07111975]

Unsupported file in 4.8 beta 2

[westonruter]

Patching mediaelementplayer.min.css is not really an option. The issue needs to be fixed in MediaElement.js itself, and it may already be fixed since core is using ME.js 2.22 whereas ME.js 4.x is now out and is in the process of being upgraded to. See #39686.