diff --git a/CURRENT.md b/CURRENT.md
index 5e49fb0..ccb72ce 100644
--- a/CURRENT.md
+++ b/CURRENT.md
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ mobile draft at 390px.
   - [x] C11 preview caching: Discord-hosted image/GIF previews (WebP 320px, hash-addressed, 5 MiB
     cap, one attempt) run after every walk in both modes. Live run `...-20260916090722`:
     `previewed: 2`; thumbs served over `/api/media/<scrape>/<item>/thumb` (200).
+  - [x] C24 Embeddable items open straight into their player: clicking a YouTube/Vimeo/Twitch/
+    Streamable card shows the iframe immediately, no extra play press. Non-embeddable videos keep
+    the still + play icon.
   - [x] C23 Grid and viewer source fixes. The grid now prefers the cached still (or local file) for
     every kind, and only falls back to a first-frame video, served through the same-origin stream
     endpoint instead of hotlinked CDN/redirector URLs (fixes fxtwitter/YouTube previews that ORB
diff --git a/docs/media.md b/docs/media.md
index f7dc56a..9758f34 100644
--- a/docs/media.md
+++ b/docs/media.md
@@ -152,9 +152,9 @@ that deletion is irreversible. The delete button is disabled for a 5 second coun
   so a video without a cached preview renders a first-frame `<video>` in the grid, and downloaded
   videos get an ffmpeg poster cached in `thumbs/`. Clicking a tile opens a viewer: wide media
   shows the metadata banner below, vertical media shows it to the right, and videos carry a large
-  play icon top-right. The play action embeds a YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, or Streamable player, or
-  plays a direct mp4/webm/m4v; when neither is possible it opens the external-site warning, since
-  the page is the only way to watch. Playback and **View full** go through
+  play icon top-right. An embeddable item (YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, Streamable) opens straight into
+  its player; other videos play a direct mp4/webm/m4v, and when neither is possible the play
+  action opens the external-site warning, since the page is the only way to watch. Playback and **View full** go through
   `  /api/media/<scrape>/<item>/stream`, which serves the local file or re-fetches the source message
   for a fresh signed URL, so expired CDN links still play. The grid prefers the cached still; a
   video without one gets its first frame through the same-origin stream endpoint, which avoids
diff --git a/poc/public/media.js b/poc/public/media.js
index 2bc2632..c3b1fdc 100644
--- a/poc/public/media.js
+++ b/poc/public/media.js
@@ -1122,16 +1122,19 @@
         const directVideo = item.localUrl || (item.kind === "video" ? streamUrl : null);
         const canPlay = !!embed || (item.kind === "video" && !!directVideo);
 
+        // An embeddable item (YouTube, Vimeo, ...) opens straight into its player.
+        const showPlayer = play || !!embed;
+
         // A play request on something we cannot play falls back to the external page.
         if (play && !canPlay) openLinkWarning(item.url);
 
-        if (play && embed) {
+        if (showPlayer && embed) {
             const frame = document.createElement("iframe");
             frame.src = embed;
             frame.allow = "autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture";
             frame.allowFullscreen = true;
             media.append(frame);
-        } else if (play && directVideo) {
+        } else if (showPlayer && directVideo) {
             const video = document.createElement("video");
             video.controls = true;
             video.autoplay = true;