Upcoming Canvas Changes
2025-05-17
- Breaking Change: Gradebook Icon Update for LTI Assignment and Grade Service
2025-06-21
- Feature Enforcement: New Course and User Analytics
For more information, please see Upcoming Canvas Changes.
Release notes outline upcoming customer-impacting changes that are expected to display in beta and/or production environments. Please note that features considered for future development are not included in the notes.
Unless otherwise stated, all features in this release are available in the Beta environment on 2025-03-17 and the Production environment on 2025-04-19.
All Resources | Features in this release may be included in product blogs and other content areas.
- Institutions are responsible for conducting thorough evaluations of their custom CSS/JS with each release and deploy to assess potential impacts.
- Subscribe to the Canvas release notes to be notified of updates.
New Features
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Media
Media Player with Improved Accessibility and Usability [This feature is delayed to the production environment until 2025-04-24]
All Users
Feature Option to Enable | None |
|---|
Beta Environment Availability | 2025-03-19 |
Enable Feature Option Location & Default Status | N/A |
Subaccount Configuration | N/A |
Account/Course Setting to Enable | None |
Permissions | Inherent to user role |
Affects User Interface | Yes |
Affected Areas | Assignments, Files, Modules, Rich Content Editor, SpeedGrader |
Related Ideas | None |
Summary
The media player playback experience has been improved with enhanced accessibility, adaptive streaming, and privacy features.
- The default embed size is increased to 480x300px.
- The play bar is redesigned and repositioned.
- An open-source media player is integrated to align with the Canvas design pattern.
- The Closed Caption icon is updated.
- Keyboard accessibility is improved with the addition of a hidden shortcut icon.
- Privacy measures are enhanced to ensure secure playback.
- Video quality automatically adjusts based on available bandwidth. Update: This feature will gradually become available worldwide between April 19 and April 30.
- Note: This feature will be available in the beta environment on 2025-04-19.
- The ability to upload and delete closed captions.
- Note: The Caption Delete feature will be available in the beta environment on 2025-04-19.
Note: This update impacts all areas where the media player is used. This update is not currently available in Studio, subscribe to the Studio Release Notes for upcoming changes.
Change Benefit
This update provides better usability, accessibility, and integration, offering a more intuitive design, improved navigation, and greater compatibility with Canvas. These updates streamline the user experience while maintaining familiarity and long-term support.
Feature Workflow
Media Player Play Bar
The media player embed size is increased [1]. The toolbar is redesigned and repositioned to allow full-screen playback [2]. Additionally, the Closed Caption icon is updated [3].
Media Player Keyboard Shortcut Icon
Keyboard only users can access a keyboard shortcut icon.
Media Player Keyboard Shortcut List
The Keyboard shortcut icon displays a list of actions and shortcuts.
Media Player Upload Subtitles Option
Click the Options button, to upload and delete subtitles.
Feature Video
Other Updates
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Accessibility Updates
All Users
Over the coming months, a series of updates will be introduced to enhance Canvas's accessibility, intuitiveness, and equity, with a focus on improving usability for assistive technology users. These updates will include changes in the following areas:
Enhanced Structural Clarity
Refined semantic markup in the user interface to improve communication of content relationships and hierarchy.
Improved Error Feedback
In the user interface, improved error messages in forms and interactive elements provide clearer and more accessible feedback. Error messages were added to required fields that previously lacked them, while existing error states were updated to follow a consistent pattern. Focused states for missing or incorrect fields ensure a uniform experience for all users, whether using a mouse, keyboard, or screen reader.
