Video.js Was Rewritten to Be 8x Smaller — What This Means for Web Video in 2026

A major milestone just landed on Hacker News: Video.js — the most popular open-source web video player — was completely rewritten after 16 years. The headline number: 8x smaller. From ~500KB to ~60KB. But the story behind it is more interesting than the tech. The Story The original creator took Video.js back after 16 years. That's not a typical open-source story — usually founders hand off projects and move on. This one came back. Why? Because web video in 2026 is a very different landscape: YouTube embeds are 1.3MB+ of JavaScript alone Browser <video> tag is surprisingly capable now (HLS, DASH native support growing) Most video players were designed for a world where browsers couldn't play formats natively Video.js 9 strips everything back to what's actually needed. Why This Matters for Developers If you're embedding video in your web app, your current setup is probably bloated. Here's what most projects ship: video.js v8: ~500KB min (before plugins) plyr: ~150KB min videojs + HLS: ~8