WordPress

How to Embed a Video in WordPress

November 20, 2020

Meaningful content isn’t just about words. And not everybody likes to read long posts, even about topics that interest them.

As a result videos are a great alternative or addition to your written content.

They’re excellent for conveying your meaning, for introducing and adding personality to content, and can be an effective method for demonstrating tutorials.

Furthermore, videos can boost your blog reach, help you rank for a keyword, engage your audience, and bring a little variety to your usual posts.

That said, it can be a technical challenge to learn how to embed videos in WordPress.

Don’t worry − we’ve got you covered. If you want to learn how to add video to a WordPress post, you’ve come to the right place. This article will help you figure out how to embed a video in WordPress to ensure that you never have any issues in the future.

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What are Embedded Videos in WordPress?

Many people don’t differentiate between uploading and embedding a video on a WordPress site. However, these two terms aren’t identical. While uploading means taking any video file and uploading it to your web hosting site, embedding is different. When you embed a video, you take someone else’s video and post it to your WordPress site.

Essentially, your WordPress site hosts it, using the resources of YouTube, or some other video hosting platform, such as Vimeo. Only you let other people watch the video on your WordPress site without visiting other services.

Why Embed Videos in WordPress?

Regardless of how interesting a topic might be, reading a lengthy related post can be challenging. Moreover, it can often be difficult to pack everything you want to say into one article.

A lot of your website visitors are visual creatures. They come to your site because you provide engaging content. However, spicing things up a little bit wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Images and videos are efficient ways of attracting bigger audiences as they make your content more captivating. A carefully-selected YouTube video can add diversity to your blog, and occasionally increase the overall content quality.

How to Embed Videos in WordPress: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Suppose you’re looking for an efficient way to diversify content on your website and engage your audience even more. In that case, why not embed a YouTube video, or as mentioned above, a video from another video hosting service? Doing it is quite simple. In this section, we’ll show you how to embed a video from YouTube using the video URL or iframe code.

Method #1: The oEmbed

The simplest way to embed YouTube video is by using the oEmbed method. However, this doesn’t allow for customization, so keep that in mind. First of all, make sure you go to the WordPress dashboard and tap on ‘Posts.’ Once there, you must click on ‘Add New.’ The other steps are quite simple:

1. Go to YouTube and find a video you want to have on your blog post. There are two options. You can click on the YouTube URL from the URL bar and copy it to the clipboard. Alternatively, tap on the share arrow. Click on ‘Copy’ next to the video URL.

 oEmbed method

2. Now, go back to your WordPress editor.

3. Make sure you place a cursor on a new line in a post.

4. Then, paste the URL. You’ll now see the preview of the video.

5. When you’re ready, click on ‘Publish’ to make your post live.

When you paste the URL code, WordPress inserts a part of it to your blog post. The code lets WordPress embed the video, allowing the visitors of your website to watch it. They don’t have to go to the video source, as they can play it directly from your WordPress blog.

Method #2: The iframe Code

Although more complicated than the first method, this one allows for more customization. Again, the steps to embed a video using the iframe code are simple:

iframe code

(Image Source)

  1. Find the video you want to embed within your blog post.
  2. Below it, look for the share arrow and tap on it.
  3. Next, look for the ‘Embed’ button, and click on it.
  4. A video will show on the left, and you’ll see a code on the right. This code is the basic iframe code. Pay attention to it.
  5. Under it, you’ll see various options. You can choose the starting time of your video, in addition to other features.
  6. Adjust the setting the way you want by checking the option boxes.
  7. Select the code and copy it to the clipboard.
  8. Go back to your WordPress editor. In a post, make sure the ‘Text’ mode is selected, and not the ‘Visual’ mode.
  9. Place the cursor in a new line, and paste the URL in the text tab.

That’s it! If you now go to the ‘visual’ mode, you’ll see the preview of the video you embedded.

How to Embed Video in WordPress FAQs

How to embed a video in URL in WordPress?

Embedding a video in the URL in WordPress is quite straightforward. Find the video you like and copy its URL. There are now two simple ways you can do it using the oEmbed method or the iframe code.

Can I embed video in a sidebar?

Embedding a video in a sidebar is also possible and it allows for more customization. However, doing so takes more time, and it isn’t as simple as with the oEmbed method or the iframe code.

Can you embed Vimeo videos in WordPress?

To embed Vimeo videos in WordPress, you should do as follows:

  1. Open a new post in WordPress editor.
  2. Find where you want to embed a video and place your cursor there.
  3. Tap on the ‘Add block,’ and type ‘video.’
  4. Copy the URL from Vimeo and paste it to the ‘Embed’ box.

What video formats does WordPress support?

WordPress allows you to embed different video formats. It supports MP4 files, m4v, WebM, OGV, WMV, and FLV files.

How can I embed video in WordPress Using HTML code?

Embedding a video in WordPress using HTML code is done with the iframe method. It isn’t complicated, and you can follow the steps outlined above.

HTML code video embed

(Image Source)

Conclusion

As you can see, learning how to embed videos in WordPress isn’t particularly complicated, but it is an effective way to keep your blog posts fresh. Moreover, it engages your audience and adds extra variety. Since we’ve outlined two different methods, we’re sure you won’t have any problems in the future with embedding videos.

Kevin Kessler
Kevin J. Kessler is a published author of five fantasy novels, a professional wrestler, and a puppeteer (not all at the same time). Kevin is a content writer at Codeless.
Kevin Kessler
Kevin J. Kessler is a published author of five fantasy novels, a professional wrestler, and a puppeteer (not all at the same time). Kevin is a content writer at Codeless.