Background video

What is the background video section?

The Background video section displays text with a video playing in the background. It plays silently on an automatic loop and enables promotional messages to be shared, whilst adding energy and movement to the page.

A good Background video can improve the overall customer experience by showcasing products or services in action. Videos also tend to be more engaging than static images, which could encourage visitors to stay on your store longer and potentially increase conversions.

How to create a background video section

Once the video source has been selected, a Video description can be added. This is hidden text that will be read out by screen readers and should describe the content of the video.

It is also recommended to add a Cover image that will display in the place of the video while the video is loading, or if it cannot autoplay. This could be due to reasons such as a user’s poor internet connection, limited browser support or slow page load times.

How to improve speed scores

Videos by their nature are large and take time to load. If you’re trying to keep Canopy performing well, avoid placing the Background video section near the top of the page. The browser will need to wait until the video can start playing and this will contribute to a higher LCP score.

The Image banner section is probably the fastest visual section that can be placed at the top of the site. If you do this, ensure you tick the Load the section without animation setting. Unticking this setting will also mean that the image within the Image banner section is not lazy loaded - meaning 'above the fold' content will load as quickly as possible.

Also avoid embedding images or video within the Shopify rich text area in such areas as product pages, collection pages, general pages, and blog articles. Instead, use the image and video sections within the theme. 

Lazy loading

Canopy brings lazy loading capability to videos as standard - meaning videos will only load as they're about to become visible on the page (i.e. scrolled to). The Background video section comes a Lazy load the video setting to selectively enable this. You may want to untick this setting for the following reasons:

1. The video is at the top of the page - in which case you'll want the video to load as quickly as possible (and not be lazy loaded).
2. You want to give the background videos the best possible chance of auto-playing on older devices.

FAQs

Why is the my video not playing on mobile?

Whether a Background video plays on mobile is controlled by the device/browser rather than the theme. Background videos can slow down page loading, use a lot of mobile data, and consume the device's battery.

Your device/browser may decide not to play the video if:

• Your phone is low on battery or is in 'Battery saver mode'.
• Your data signal is weak.
• The video has sound.
• The video is too large.
• The current page contains multiple video or is slow to load.
• The video has been encoded in the incorrect format.
• Or any combination of the above.

The most reliable (although not guaranteed) way to get a Background video to autoplay is to upload the video file in an MP4 format to Shopify in the Content > Files area of the Shopify admin.

If the video still does not play, see the FAQ below.

Why is my MP4 video still not playing/showing as just black?

Temporarily change the video URL to this:

If this plays, then your video has not been encoded correctly and it will need to be encoded in the h.264 formats. If you search for 'h.264 mp4 encoders' online, you should find sites that provide a facility to do this.

Why does my video have no sound?

Background videos don’t play sound. They are auto-playing videos that are designed to sit in the background to add a visual design. If you want to have videos that play sound, you can use the default video section.

Browsers don’t like auto-playing videos with sound when you land on a page, most will block the video causing issues. Also, it can be a negative experience for a customer to land on a site and be greeted with a sound that they didn’t accept to play.

How big should my video file be?

Keep it under 3mb if possible, although there are no limits imposed. Remember, the video can loop so if it's possible to make the loop seamless, the video can appear to be longer than it actually is.