The purpose of this page is to:
Please note that the use of these programmes, tools and plugins is at the responsibility of the user. This list is given only for information purposes and in no case can the European Parliament be held responsible for any direct or indirect damage caused by their use. For further details concerning the question of liability, please, refer to the Europarl website's legal notice.
The European Parliament broadcasts events, which take place on its premises, live and in recorded format. The live broadcast is called "Live" and the recorded broadcast is called "VOD" (Video on Demand).
Two video formats are available:
These two formats both meet the following requirements:
Streaming :
The insufficiency of Progressive downloading (often used for broadcasting videos on the web) results in the use of Streaming for each event that is broadcasted in real time.
Multilingualism :
Each event is broadcasted in all official languages of the European Union (when interpretation is available), plus the original.
Simultaneity :
Parliament currently broadcasts up to 13 events simultaneously.
Multi-bitrate :
Each event is broadcasted in three different qualities in order to allow access to the largest possible number of citizens, depending on their internet infrastructure.
The broadcasting services for the public are being constantly developed. The following table shows previous developments and explains why certain services are or are not available for the videos you watch.
| Available services | Plenary Sessions | Committees and other events |
|---|---|---|
| VOD - play in your browser - WMV Windows Media Player |
Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | Committees and other events, Available services :Video recorded after January 2009 |
| VOD - play in your browser - MP4 QuickTime player |
Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | / |
| VOD - Free downloading between two points. | / | Committees and other events, Available services :Video recorded after January 2009 |
| VOD - Downloading by speech - (WMV and MP4) | Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | / |
| VOD - Downloading by subject - (WMV and MP4) | Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | / |
| VOD - Search functions : Search video by date | Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | Committees and other events, Available services :Video recorded after March 2009 |
| VOD - Search functions : Search video by speaker | Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | / |
| VOD - Search functions : Search video by subject | Session, Available services :Video recorded after September 2008 | / |
| VOD - Search functions : Search video by committee | / | Committees and other events, Available services :Video recorded after January 2009 |
The schedule for the live broadcast is available through the "Schedule" menu. It allows you to see all live broadcasts, current and future. The schedule allows you to choose the event and access the broadcast page.
To watch the live broadcast in WMV format, Windows Media Player must be installed on your computer and your browser should include the necessary plugins. You can get these at the following links:
If you cannot watch the live feed directly in your browser, it is possible to open the feed in a video player capable of playing WMV format. To do this, use the following tool and copy/paste the URL in the player:
Live broadcast is currently not available in MP4 format.
To watch the VOD broadcast in MP4 format in your browser, QuickTime player must be installed on your computer.You can get it through the following link:
The MP4 format is available only after September 2008 (see the above table)
To watch the VOD broadcast in WMV format, Windows Media Player must be installed on your computer and your browser should include the necessary plugins. You can get these at the following links:
To choose one of the two players, please use the following tool:
The free downloading tool allows you to obtain a copy of the video or only a part of it. This recorded file is produced automatically and is being sent to you as link by e-mail. Then you can download the video on your computer and even save it locally.
The downloading tool is found under the video image. Set the start point of the downloading with the red button and the end point of the recording with the same button (you should stop the recording 1-2 seconds before the end of the video or at any earlier point you'd like). Click to accept the disclaimer below; type your e-mail address; retype the letters shown in the "captcha" and then click "Get the clip". After some time (depending on the size of the recorded video) a link containing your recording part of the VOD will be sent to your mailbox. For 24 hours your clip will be available to download and save on your computer by clicking the URL link found in that e-mail.
Note: This recording contains only one linguistic interpretation version, the same as your navigation language.
The downloads are available to download by speech or debate after accepting the disclaimer.
Note: The downloaded speech in WMV or MP4 format contains all linguistic interpretation versions available. In order to select the one of your choice, first open the video and then go to either QuickTime Player menu at View->Languages or Windows Media player menu at Play->Audio and Language Tracks. The downloaded debate in WMV format contains also all linguistic interpretation versions and you can follow the previously mentioned steps in order to listen to your preferred language. The MP4 format of a downloaded debate would be in the language selected for the webpage of EPTV.
If you try to upload videos downloaded from Europarl website on other video-sharing services/websites, you may encounter a problem with the linguistic version. When they are uploaded on YouTube, DailyMotion, or other similar websites, the videos get transcoded. To overcome this problem, prior to upload the new file on other websites, you can convert the downloaded file into a different format and extract the preferred language.
For those who want to transcode videos, you can find several tools on internet but here is one of them:
