Getting Current YouTube Video Time

Question

I am writing a Browser Plugin and need to find a way to get the current time a YouTube Video playing on YouTube using JavaScript. I have been playing around in the Chrome JavaScript Console and haven't had any luck.

It appears that the chrome API only works with embedded video players not a video that is playing on on youtube.com. One option I looked into is in the share section of a video their is an input box for the "start at:" time that contains the current time of the video. I have tried using .value and .text on this input box and they both return undefined? Does anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

Finally I found how to make it work on iOS (and Android too).
Actually, the whole youtube js api was broken for me if run on mobile browser.

Problem solved by creating player using new YT.Player as described in YouTube IFrame API.

Please note: only creating <iframe> from <div> placeholder works for mobile browsers at the time. If you try to use existing <iframe> in new YT.Player call, as mentioned in IFrame API, this will not work.

After player created, it's possible to use player.getCurrentTime() or player.getDuration() with player instance created.

Note: I had no luck calling this methods on player obtained with
player = document.getElementById(...) (from @JosephMarikle answer).
Only created player instance worked in mobile browsers.

---

Useful links:

• YouTube IFrame API
• YouTube JavaScript API
• YouTube Player Demo

Answer 2

Stop at specific time youtube video and show notification box in GWD

<script>
  var yid = document.getElementById("gwd-youtube_1");
  var idBox = document.getElementById("box1");
pausing_function = function(event) { 

    var aa = setInterval(function() {

        if (yid.getCurrentTime() > 8.0 && yid.getCurrentTime() < 8.1) {
            yid.pause(yid);
            idBox.style.opacity = 1;
            console.log(yid.getCurrentTime() + "playing")

             clearInterval(aa);
            yid.removeEventListener("playing", pausing_function);

        }

    }, 100)
}

 yid.addEventListener("playing", pausing_function);

  var pausing_function_1 = function() {      
       if (yid.getCurrentTime() > 8.1) {
        console.log(yid.getCurrentTime() + "pause")


        // remove the event listener after you paused the playback
        yid.removeEventListener("playing", pausing_function);
      }
    };    
  </script>

play video and hide notification

 <script type="text/javascript" gwd-events="handlers">
    window.gwd = window.gwd || {};
    gwd.pauseVideo = function(event) {
      var idBox = document.getElementById("box1");
      idBox.style.opacity = 0;
    };
  </script>
  <script type="text/javascript" gwd-events="registration">
    // Support code for event handling in Google Web Designer
     // This script block is auto-generated. Please do not edit!
    gwd.actions.events.registerEventHandlers = function(event) {
      gwd.actions.events.addHandler('gwd-youtube_1', 'playing', gwd.pauseVideo, false);
    };
    gwd.actions.events.deregisterEventHandlers = function(event) {
      gwd.actions.events.removeHandler('gwd-youtube_1', 'playing', gwd.pauseVideo, false);
    };
    document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", gwd.actions.events.registerEventHandlers);
    document.addEventListener("unload", gwd.actions.events.deregisterEventHandlers);
  </script>

Answer 3

Just FYI, There is a new iframe API for the YouTube player: https://developers.google.com/youtube/iframe_api_reference

Answer 4

You can use Html5 Video API on youtube.com

var htmlVideoPlayer = document.getElementsByTagName('video')[0];
htmlVideoPlayer.currentTime

Note: It's not gonna work on Youtube Iframe API because Iframes are isolated. You cannot access the context of a Youtube IFrame .

Answer 5

ytplayer = document.getElementById("movie_player");
ytplayer.getCurrentTime();

See the api

Answer 6

Depends on what you want

player.getCurrentTime():Number

Returns the elapsed time in seconds since the video started playing.

player.getDuration():Number

Returns the duration in seconds of the currently playing video. Note that getDuration() will return 0 until the video's metadata is loaded, which normally happens just after the video starts playing.

http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/js_api_reference.html