Listening is a dynamic and complex process which can be considered as one of the most difficult skills for various reasons. Research has found that using audio-visual (e.g. videos) can help learners engage in listening and develop better listening skills as they were exposed to a richer language context compared to using audio materials only. Drawing on these perspectives, this article reports a study investigating the effectiveness of using videos to facilitate listening comprehension and promote active learning in teaching listening skills. This action research study was conducted over one semester with second- and third-year undergraduate students majoring in English with a TESOL concentration in one liberal arts college located at southern Guangdong province. In this study, the students took a pre-listening test, watched five HTML5 Package (H5P) videos, and completed a pre- and post-questionnaire. The results from the pre-listening test and post-questionnaire showed that the use of H5P videos tended to facilitate listening comprehension in classroom based learning activities and promoted active learning to some extent. However, some students reported that viewing H5P videos was less effective in promoting active listening due to unfamiliarity of the format of the video. This article also offers insights to pedagogical and research implications of using H5P videos as a tool to teach listening skills to language teachers.