Simple: Can HTML5 Play a .mpd Manifest File Through Its Video Tag? I have a Movie_Manifest.mpd file that is made up of 5 .webm video streams (consisting of different sizes and bps) and 1 audio file. The question I'm asking is: can it be played through a "simple" HTML5 video tag?

I've tried this and it doesn't work:

&lt;video controls&gt;
  &lt;source src = "Movie_Manifest.mpd"/&gt;
&lt;/video&gt;


Well it works, but it chooses the lowest quality video stream and the output is laggy. I would like it to have adaptive bit streaming. You might think, "Do you think your bandwidth is just that slow?" Yeah, my bandwidth is slow, but not that slow. And besides, when I run that low quality webm file on its own, it runs smooth. 

So to reiterate:  

1) Can I use a "simple" HTML5 video tag for adaptive bit streaming?  

Or 

2) Do I have to use an open source media player (that the video tag would be accessing through a javascript)?

Thanks and happy streaming
no. video tag can not play mpd, and will not do adaptative bitrate. You must write that yourself, or use a free, or commercial implementation