Web Client

The web client runs in any modern browser and provides the full Dubby experience — browsing, playback, and administration.

Supported browsers

Browser	Minimum version	Notes
Chrome	90+	Best compatibility
Firefox	90+	Full support
Safari	15+	No HEVC via HLS.js (transcoded to H.264)
Edge	90+	Chromium-based, same as Chrome

All browsers use hls.js for HLS playback via MediaSource Extensions (MSE).

Codec support

Codec	Support
H.264	Direct play
HEVC (H.265)	Transcoded to H.264 (browsers can’t decode HEVC via MSE)
VP9	Direct play
AV1	Direct play (Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+)
AAC	Direct play
AC3 / EAC3	Transcoded to AAC
DTS / TrueHD	Transcoded to AAC
Opus / FLAC	Direct play

Audio is limited to stereo in browsers — surround sound formats are downmixed to 2-channel AAC.

Playback features

• Seek preview — Hover over the seek bar to see trickplay thumbnails
• Skip intro — Overlay button when intro segments are detected
• Subtitle overlay — Text subtitles rendered as a custom overlay
• Continue watching — Resume from where you left off across devices

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Space / K	Play / Pause
F	Toggle fullscreen
M	Toggle mute
Left arrow	Seek back 10 seconds
Right arrow	Seek forward 10 seconds
Up arrow	Volume up
Down arrow	Volume down

Direct play conditions

The web client can direct play (zero transcoding) when all of these are true:

• Video codec is H.264, VP9, or AV1
• Audio codec is AAC, Opus, or FLAC
• Container is MP4 or WebM
• No subtitle burn-in required

For all other combinations, the server transcodes and delivers via HLS.

Known limitations

• No HEVC — Browsers don’t support HEVC via MediaSource Extensions, even on macOS where the OS decoder is available
• Stereo only — MSE doesn’t support multichannel audio output
• No HDR — Web browsers don’t support HDR video rendering