WatchVROpen player

Playback guide

How to play 180°, 360° and SBS VR videos online

WatchVR opens a local video in your browser and maps it to an interactive VR view. Use this guide when the source looks split, stretched, reversed or wrapped around the wrong part of the scene.

Four quick steps

  1. 1

    Open the online VR player

    Open WatchVR and select your video file from the device. The file remains local to the browser.

  2. 2

    Choose the projection

    Select 180° for a front-facing half-sphere video or 360° for a complete panoramic video.

  3. 3

    Choose the video layout

    Select SBS/LR for side-by-side video, TB/OU for top-bottom video, mono for a single view, or front-back where appropriate.

  4. 4

    Play and adjust the view

    Drag or swipe to look around, seek through the video, change playback speed, zoom, or tune the image controls.

Choose the right VR settings

180° versus 360° projection

A 180° video covers the area in front of the viewer. A 360° video surrounds the viewer with a full panorama. If a scene is duplicated, heavily stretched or leaves the wrong part of the view empty, try the other projection.

SBS, top-bottom and mono layouts

Side-by-side (SBS/LR) files place the left-eye and right-eye images next to each other. Top-bottom (TB/OU) files stack them vertically. Mono files contain one view. Choose the layout that matches how the unprocessed video looks.

Play a local 360° video file

Open the 360° video player, choose a file from your device, and set the projection to 360°. Drag or swipe to inspect the whole scene. The browser reads the selected file locally; WatchVR does not upload it to a server. Playback depends on whether that browser can decode the file's container and video codec.

Watch SBS video on a regular screen

If the raw video shows two images side by side, choose SBS/LR and the matching 180° or 360° projection. WatchVR maps an eye view into one interactive viewport; use the eye control if the view looks reversed. This is a playback preview, not an exported video conversion. For a fuller explanation, see how to watch VR videos without a headset.

Watch VR video on Android or iPhone

WatchVR provides a responsive player with touch panning. In a current Android browser or iPhone Safari, open the player, use the browser's file picker, select the projection and layout, then swipe to look around. Landscape orientation can provide more viewing space. On iPhone, browser fullscreen behavior can vary, so use the in-page player when fullscreen is unavailable.

Mobile playback is not guaranteed for every combination: maximum resolution, available memory, thermal limits and codec support vary by device and browser. If a large file stalls, test a lower-resolution copy encoded in a format supported by that browser.

Browser and codec troubleshooting

The file will not open or play
Try a current Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge release. File extensions identify containers, not always the codec inside them, and browser decoder support differs.
The player is black or the VR view is missing
Confirm JavaScript and hardware acceleration are enabled and that the browser supports WebGL2. Closing other graphics-heavy tabs may also free device resources.
The picture is split, stretched or points the wrong way
Match the source with mono, SBS/LR, top-bottom or front-back layout, then switch between 180° and 360°. For SBS footage, try the opposite eye control.

For a technical explanation of the privacy boundary, browser decoding, WebGL projection and SBS texture selection, read how local VR video playback works.