Skip 10 seconds back on tap for Commons videos & audio (Community Wishlist/W468)
I recently watched some videos on Commons because they aren't (yet?) on YouTube. (Wikimania talks)
It was a bad experience, not comparable to that of other video platforms and not what one would expect from one of the largest websites in the world. The problem affects watching videos directly on Commons as well as videos embedded on Wikipedia. It would be great if this was improved a bit. The problems were:
- The Commons app can't play videos (issue here) so one had to use the mobile Web browser; and first open the site to then tap on the search and enter text, assuming one already knows and remembers the file's title.
- The mobile site doesn't show file categories so finding related videos – such as other videos of the same Wikimania event – is a hassle (same for finding videos without knowing the exact title) – related wish W225: Show categories on mobile. This is even more important for Commons because unlike on YouTube, related videos aren't shown underneath directly.
- One can't skip x seconds back by tapping twice on the left side of the screen/video – or skipping forward when tapping twice on its right side – as one can with YouTube videos for example.
This wish is about #3 only.
This feature is most needed for things like talks and explainer videos where one may have not listened carefully enough, or briefly got distracted, or didn't understood something, or acoustically didn't hear something, etc. This feature is especially important for videos that are longer than 3 minutes where it's difficult and exhausting/disruptive to jump back just a short time by using the progress slider at the bottom even when one tapped the fullscreen button to rotate the screen.
The problem is more severe for audio files – in specific especially audio versions of long Wikipedia articles and audiobooks but that probably needs an entirely new audio player or overhauling the audio player – see related wish W317: A proper audio player.
The video player used as of 2025 is the VideoJS player. I haven't checked whether that feature is readily available in that player and just needs to be enabled or switching the player or adding this feature to the VideoJS code would be needed.
Unassigned
People watching videos on Commons or Wikipedia now and, especially, in the future
- Created: 14:57, 7 November 2025
- Last updated: 05:36, 24 July 2026
- Author: Prototyperspective (talk)
This wish currently has 8 supporters. Voting for this wish is open until it is completed.