Playlists and the Media Library | easyCMS Digital Signage

The Media Library is where all your files live; playlists are ordered sequences of that content. Together they let you manage what plays separately from how it looks (layouts) and when it plays (the schedule). This separation is what makes day-to-day content updates fast: swap an item in a playlist once, and every screen using it updates automatically.

Supported formats

The safest, most portable formats across all easyCMS player platforms are:

Images: JPG and PNG. Match your image size to the region it will fill, a 4000-pixel photo squeezed into a small corner region wastes storage and bandwidth.
Video: MP4 (H.264 with AAC audio) plays reliably on every player platform. Other formats may work on specific players, but MP4 is the format we recommend standardising on.
Audio: MP3 for background audio or audio attached to other widgets.

Beyond library files, content such as web pages, tickers, weather and clocks is added as widgets rather than uploads, so nothing needs converting.

Uploading media

Open the Media Library and choose to add media.
Drag files into the upload window or browse for them on your computer. You can upload several files in one go.
Optionally rename each file, descriptive names (“menu-breakfast-v2”) make a growing library manageable.
Use tags and folders to keep things organised from day one; you can filter the library by tag later, which also powers dynamic playlists.

Keep an eye on your storage quota: a standard easyCMS account includes 300MB of cloud storage, and Enterprise accounts include 10GB. Compressing videos before upload (a 1080p H.264 file at a sensible bitrate) stretches your quota a long way. When a file is superseded, use the replace function so existing layouts pick up the new version, or retire it so it can no longer be assigned while remaining in old designs.

Durations

Every item has a duration, how long it stays on screen before the next item plays:

Images use a default duration (typically around 10 seconds) which you can override per item.
Videos default to their natural length; you can shorten them or let them play out.
Widgets (tickers, weather, etc.) get whatever duration you assign.

Total playlist duration is shown as you build, which helps when you are aiming for, say, a two-minute loop.

Building and ordering playlists

A playlist is built in the playlist editor:

Create a playlist and give it a clear name.
Drag media and widgets from the toolbox into the timeline.
Reorder items by dragging them, the sequence on the timeline is the playback order.
Optionally set start and end dates on individual items, so seasonal content expires by itself without you touching the playlist.

Playlists can be assigned to a region on a layout, reused across many layouts, and on recent player versions even scheduled directly to a display full screen without building a layout at all.

Dynamic playlists

Instead of hand-picking items, a dynamic playlist is defined by a filter, usually a tag. Any library media matching the filter is included automatically, including files you upload later. Tag every store promotion “promo”, point a dynamic playlist at that tag, and updating the screens becomes as simple as uploading a new tagged image.

Keeping content fresh

Because players cache content locally, edits you make in the CMS propagate at the players’ next check-in, usually within a few minutes. There is no need to touch the screens themselves; the library and playlists are your single point of control.