Tumblr Bets on Video, Updates Its Player With New Features

Tumblr rolled out a series of improvements to its video player Thursday, including infinite looping and the ability to watch clips off to the side of a page while still staying in a stream to look at new content.

The popular blogging site is looking for ways to enhance its user engagement. This latest news comes just days after owner Yahoo reported that Tumblr grew its audience 40% (from 300 million to 420 million users) since it acquired the site in 2013. Tumblr could bring in $100 million in ad revenue in 2015.

Video posts are growing at twice the rate of photo posts on Tumblr, and the built-in player is the most popular player option on the site by post volume, according to Tumblr.

The company announced a new docking feature that lets users watch videos (positioned on the right side of the page), almost like a pop-up video. This will make it easy to continue viewing clips, while also multitasking within the stream.

Check out the GIF, below, to see how it works:

Other improvements to the Tumblr player include the ability to change video to HD quality and auto play, which automatically plays videos when you see them on the site. The latter feature works both on the web and via mobile (though only if connected to Wi-Fi on a mobile device).

Videos uploaded to the Tumblr player, as well as those from Vine and Instagram, will now repeat on a loop. While infinite looping is an attractive feature for those who miss a clip and want to see it again, the company is still mum on whether it will be converting the outdated GIF format to a modern MP4 video format. Sites such as Reddit, Imgur and Gfycat have made that move because an MP4 file is significantly smaller, and loads faster with less buffering.

'We're always looking to improve the experience on Tumblr in any format, but right now, we're not ready to talk about the future of GIFs,' a Tumblr spokesperson told Mashable.

BONUS: GIF vs. JIF: You're Probably Still Saying It Wrong Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.