# Server timestamp as ID3 to JWplayer client?

**URL:** <https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569>\
**Category:** Wowza Developer Dojo\
**Tags:** wowza-streaming-server-java-api\
**Created:** [March 21, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569 "2015-03-21T22:04:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/system/32/447_2.png) [@system](https://community.wowza.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/1 "2015-03-21T22:04:01Z")

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Cheers!

I’ve been trying to solve this problem for years now, and I’m sure someone already has 🙂

How can I add the server timestamp (or any other information) as ID3 to all chunks (or some chunks every X seconds or so) of a live stream? JWplayer should be able to read them nowadays using onMeta.

I got as far as fiddling around with onFillChunkDataPacket, but if I understand it correctly, it only fires when there is data from the source. What I need is something that fires on each chunk regardless of “incoming data”.

Big thank you in advance if there is a solution for this!

BR,

Mikael

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**Author:** ![Zoran](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/zoran/32/385_2.png) [@Zoran](https://community.wowza.com/u/Zoran)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/2 "2015-03-22T14:48:57Z")

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Hello,

Please take a look at the sample code available in the “[How to convert onTextData events in a live or VOD stream to timed events (ID3 tags) in an Apple HLS stream](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-convert-ontextdata-events-in-a-live-or-vod-stream-to-timed-events-id3-tags-in-an-apple-hls-stream%28ID3-tags%29-in-an-Apple-HLS-stream)” forum article.

You might find it useful.

Zoran

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**Author:** ![Mikael\_LA\_nnroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@Mikael\_LA\_nnroth](https://community.wowza.com/u/Mikael_LA_nnroth)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/3 "2015-03-22T17:47:43Z")

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> Hello,
> 
> Please take a look at the sample code available in the “[How to convert onTextData events in a live or VOD stream to timed events (ID3 tags) in an Apple HLS stream](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-convert-ontextdata-events-in-a-live-or-vod-stream-to-timed-events-id3-tags-in-an-apple-hls-stream%28ID3-tags%29-in-an-Apple-HLS-stream)” forum article.
> 
> You might find it useful.
> 
> Zoran

Cheers,

I did, and I think I got a working version compiled using the sample. BUT: how do I generate the onTextData events? Let’s say I’m streaming a live event and want to signal a new slide by sending the new slide’s ID using onTextData? How should I generate that event from the web app that is running on a server somewhere far away?

BR,

Mikael

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**Author:** ![Mikael\_LA\_nnroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@Mikael\_LA\_nnroth](https://community.wowza.com/u/Mikael_LA_nnroth)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/4 "2015-03-23T22:15:25Z")

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Ok cool. This seems to be exactly what I’m looking for! I’ll give it a try. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![Zoran](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/zoran/32/385_2.png) [@Zoran](https://community.wowza.com/u/Zoran)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/5 "2015-03-23T00:25:18Z")

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Hi,

You can download a package that includes an example module (ModulePublishOnTextData) that injects onTextData events into a live stream. You can take a look at the [Publishing onTextData](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-configure-closed-captioning-for-live-streaming#publishing_ontextdata) section of the “[How to configure closed captioning for live streaming](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-configure-closed-captioning-for-live-streaming)” forum article.

Zoran

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**Author:** ![Zoran](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/zoran/32/385_2.png) [@Zoran](https://community.wowza.com/u/Zoran)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/6 "2015-03-26T00:39:50Z")

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Hi,

Great. Please do keep us updated of your progress as other Wowza users might also benefit from your current experience.

Zoran

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**Author:** ![Inderjeet\_S\_Sodhi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbce88/32.png) [@Inderjeet\_S\_Sodhi](https://community.wowza.com/u/Inderjeet_S_Sodhi)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/7 "2015-08-04T22:37:27Z")

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mglonnro,

Were you able to get this working? As far as I was told by Jwplayer, it cannot read id3 tags from a video source. It can neither read metadata on Android. Not sure about JW7 released 3 days ago but it seems the same.

Regards

Inderjeet

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**Author:** ![Inderjeet\_S\_Sodhi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbce88/32.png) [@Inderjeet\_S\_Sodhi](https://community.wowza.com/u/Inderjeet_S_Sodhi)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/8 "2015-09-17T20:43:14Z")

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> @swexpert - I have had success reading ID3 tags from HLS using JW7 - HOWEVER, this only works using the Flash provider. This means you’ll only be able read the data on desktops with flash enabled. You will need to set “primary: ‘flash’” in your JW setup config in order to force it to use Flash for this purpose.
> 
> ID3 tags can also be read from a native iOS app by listening for “timed metadata” and we’ve had success on native Android using the ExoPlayer.
> 
> However, mobile browsers other than Safari on iOS do not appear to detect/expose ID3 metadata.

Thank you so much Chrisdeely! I’m aware about flash part, it works via custom Flash application/player too. But thanks fo the tip about ExoPlayer. We’ll do some further digging and see if something can be churned up.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Inderjeet

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**Author:** ![Chris\_Deely](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/chris_deely/32/977_2.png) [@Chris\_Deely](https://community.wowza.com/u/Chris_Deely)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 10:09am UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/server-timestamp-as-id3-to-jwplayer-client/569/9 "2015-09-17T10:09:16Z")

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@swexpert - I have had success reading ID3 tags from HLS using JW7 - HOWEVER, this only works using the Flash provider. This means you’ll only be able read the data on desktops with flash enabled. You will need to set “primary: ‘flash’” in your JW setup config in order to force it to use Flash for this purpose.

ID3 tags can also be read from a native iOS app by listening for “timed metadata” and we’ve had success on native Android using the ExoPlayer.

However, mobile browsers other than Safari on iOS do not appear to detect/expose ID3 metadata.
