Embedded YouTube videos in an uploaded file not playing

[JeffPlatt]

Hello, I create all of my lecture notes in Dreamweaver and upload them into the Files section and then insert them into the Modules. In these lecture notes, I have embedded YouTube videos (I used the embed codes from YouTube). For almost a decade these videos played within the file, but since the summer of 2025, I just see a black box with a message that says: "An error occurred. Try watching this video on YouTube, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled on your computer." When my school's Canvas admin asked Canvas for help, they basically said it was user error. I have been coding my own HTML pages for over 20 years and never had a problem until now. If you open the HTML page directly in a web browser (outside of Canvas), everything works fine. I have accessed Canvas through both Firefox and Chrome and see the same error. Can anybody tell me how to fix this problem? I tried adding frame busting code into the page's header to prevent it from loading within Canvas's frames, but that didn't work. So far the only workaround is using Firefox and right clicking on the page and selecting the option of loading the frame in a new browser tab. Unfortunately, not all of my students use Firefox and this seems like a clunky approach. 

[adamwarecx · Accepted solution]

Hi @JeffPlatt - Thank you for reaching out, my suggestion would be to navigate to the file/page in the module view and select "report a problem" from the global help nav. I'd provide the information above as part of the case notes. Reason I'd suggest this method is our support team will take HTTP Environment field information including the end user's operating system, browser version, and IP address . To interpret this string, visit the user agent string website and paste the text in the window for analysis. This will allow our support team to dive deeper into the issue and provide better solutions faster. 

On another note, if you are a Canvas Studio subscriber, I thought it worthwhile sharing the upcoming product enhancement for Youtube Videos: Canvas Studio Will Soon Offer a Secure, Distraction Free YouTube Experience for Educators and Studen...

[JeffPlatt]

Thanks, I'll do that.

[dbrace]

Hi @JeffPlatt,

I know that you said that you have been following those steps for years and did not have any problems but Canvas' ability to properly load and display and render code from an HTML file that was uploaded was a bit of a gray area and never officially supported.

I ask this out of curiousity and to better understand, why do you code in Dreamweaver instead of using the Canvas RCE and its HTML view?

-Doug

[JeffPlatt]

Hello Doug! I code in Dreamweaver for a couple of reasons. First, I originally started teaching online using WebCT, but it was bought out by Blackboard, so my college migrated to Angel, which--you guessed it--was bought out by Blackboard. So I always felt it was safer to create all of my instructional content outside of the LMS to avoid having to export everything in the case of a LMS change and risk compatibility issues. (I also create all of my quizzes in Respondus and upload them to Canvas as well for the same reason.) Second, I use cascading style sheets to keep formatting consistent (as well as creating text box and image effects) and I would have to copy all of that formatting code into every page I create in Canvas' page editor. (A single, external CSS file is easier to edit than several HTML pages.) I haven't found a way to link an external CSS file to a Canvas-created page. I also don't like that I have to start with a Level 2 heading in Canvas's page editor rather than a Level 1 heading. (It's a small thing, but it bugs me nonetheless.) 

[dbrace]

Thanks for that detail, Jeff, and I get what you mean about compatibility related to changing from one system to another.

-Doug

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @JeffPlatt ...

Just thought I'd chime in here, too.  I was also curious as to why you were using Dreamweaver, but your explanation has helped.  I, too, used to use Dreamweaver quite a bit when the College I used to work for was using a LMS called Jones e-Education (based out of Denver, CO).  When I first started at that College, we were using Microsoft FrontPage, but then I slowly helped transition our course pages to Dreamweaver.  Good times...good memories...especially the CSS stuff.

You had mentioned something about exporting your content.  Like Doug had suggested, I also typically advocate for people to build all their content in the RCE (Rich Content Editor) of Canvas.  But, I also recognize that there are some HTML elements that Canvas strips out upon saving a content page.  See Canvas HTML Editor Allowlist for more details on that.  I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but if you export a Canvas course, it will produce a *.zip file for you.  Within the *.zip file, you should find a folder of HTML pages from your course.  So, you'd have that as a sort of "back-up" if you needed it.

Do you know if your school has purchased DesignPLUS from Cidi Labs?  You might need to have a conversation with your school's Canvas administrator or someone from their Online Learning / eLearning / Distance Education team to see if you have access to it or not.  I was thinking that if you had that available, you could build yourself some template pages in your course just the way you wanted them to look.  You could use elements that are available within the DesignPLUS sidebar like text boxes, applying image effects, etc.  There's a lot more to DesignPLUS than that, though.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw some options out there for you to consider.  My $0.02 for what it's worth.

Take care...be well.

[jyeagle]

Jeff Platt

Jeff Yeagle here commenting with hopes that someone can explain what is happening to the youtube videos I have embedded into canvas.. 

like you my videos have functioned perfectly for 10+ years and now, suddenly a black box with error code 5 appears.. 

unlike you, my HTML journey is somewhat simplier as I rely on i frames to simply embedded videos into cavnas from youtube, what changed? and why

[JeffPlatt]

UPDATE: Today I received an e-mail from Canvas Support that finally answers why this problem is occurring. Basically, Canvas disabled this feature. Here's the response I received:

"Looking into the issue, I was able to find internal documentation indicating that awhile back there was a change to how JS is handled in an iframe in Canvas. Since then, it is disabled by default and iframes are sandboxed now.

The reason for this change was that files that included any form of javascript got cross site scripting errors when attempting to load by clicking on a link to them within a page to open an embedded preview.

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience this change might have caused for you and your students. Your current options to correctly embed Youtube videos would be to either use Pages instead of separate htm/html files and embedding the videos with the Youtube plugin accessible from the editor's (RCE) toolbar.

Another option would be to work with your institution's admins on a custom workaround for your specific workflow. To reiterate, since iframes are sandboxed now, they block javascript from running in those files. If you need any help with contacting the admins to discuss the possible options, let us know and we will forward a request to them on your behalf."

I really don't want to have to use Canvas' RCE for the reasons I mentioned in a previous post, but I guess Canvas is more concerned about supporting novice users than more experienced users. 😞