Jetpack VideoPress Shortcodes

VideoPress Shortcodes allow you to embed your videos exactly where you want them giving you control over your media and content.

Getting a Shortcode via WP Admin

  1. Go to your WP Admin.
  2. Click Media. 
  3. Click on the video you need a shortcode for.
  4. Copy the shortcode in the video details.

Getting a Shortcode via WordPress.com

  1. Go to WordPress.com, select your site from My Sites.
  2. Click Media.
  3. Click on the video you need the Shortcode for 
  4. Click Edit.
  5. Copy the Shortcode in the video details.

Using VideoPress Shortcodes in your Posts and Pages

Shortcodes can be directly pasted into any of your posts or pages on your site, or you can add via a Shortcode Block.

Example: Pasted directly into a page or post.
Click the Add New Block button and select Shortcode to create a Shortcode Block
A newly created Shortcode Block – You can paste your Shortcode here.

Your video will not be displayed while editing, you will only see the Shortcode Block. You can click Preview to see how your video looks and make necessary edits.

When you preview your Shortcode, it will be visible on your page or post allowing you to use all of the VideoPress features available. Upon previewing, you can head back to your page or post you are building to make any necessary changes via Shortcode attributes which are listed below:

Preview of Shortcode added to Post or Page.

Get Control Over Your VideoPress Shortcodes with Attributes

You can add attributes to your Shortcode to change specific characteristics of your video. Here is a list of available attributes:

  • w=X for width in pixels, do not include units
  • h=Y for height in pixels, do not include units
  • hd=true/false to force HD playback
  • freedom=true/false to force only use open source video formats
  • autoplay=true/false to automatically play the video when it loads
  • loop=true/false to automatically play the video over and over

Adding Attributes to Your VideoPress Shortcode

  1. Copy and Paste your Shortcode as outlined in the above steps.
  2. Attributes will be added before the last bracket on your Shortcode
[videopress uhAZ9tzd attribute=value]
  1. You can add a range of different attributes for your video, in just one Shortcode.
  2. If you wanted to change the height to 200 and width to 600, enable autoplay and loop your video, it will look something like this
[videopress uhAZ9tzd h=200 w=600 autoplay=true loop=true]

Related Support Articles

These articles go over topics that are helpful when using Jetpack VideoPress via either plugin:

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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Viewing Jetpack VideoPress Stats

All videos come with stats tracking, which can be viewed within your WP Admin or via WordPress.com Jetpack Stats.

Viewing Jetpack VideoPress Stats via WP Admin

You can access your video stats directly from your WP Admin:

  1. Go to your WP Admin.
  2. Then, go to Jetpack → Stats
  3. Click Traffic.
  4. Scroll down to the Videos section.

At a glance, you will see your most popular videos along with the respective numbers of views.

By default, you will find your daily stats for today. However, you can change the timeframe of the report by following these steps:

  1. Scroll up to the top of the page. 
  2. Locate the section showing the current date (right below the 7-day highlights).
  3. Use the Days, Weeks, Month, and Years buttons to switch between different period lengths.
  4. Navigate using the arrows or click the period on the chart you are interested in.
Screenshot highlights the buttons where user can change the period length (days, weeks, months or years). User can then navigate using arrows or by clicking within the chart.

Once you have selected the period, you can access complete video stats for that period by clicking View all. This view will show you a table detailing the Impressions, Hours Watched, and Views for each video over that specific period.

You can export this data for additional analysis in a CSV format by clicking Download data as CSV.

The stats table includes Impressions, Hours Watched, and Views in columns with videos listed in rows. The header shows the relevant timeframe and has a button for downloading the data in CSV format.

Viewing Jetpack VideoPress Stats via WordPress.com

You can also log in to WordPress.com and view your stats. These stats will look similar to the stats that you can see from your WP Admin stats view.

  • Scroll down until you see the section titled Videos.
  • Here, you’ll be able to see a quick view of your videos along with the view count for each:
  • If you click on View All you will be brought to your video traffic page where you can track:
    • Impressions
    • Hours Watched
    • Views
  • You will also be able to download all video stat data as CSV
  • Click on each insight to see a custom view of the traffic
  • Click on the video file to edit your video details and settings

Related Support Articles

These articles go over topics that are helpful when using Jetpack VideoPress via either plugin:

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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Getting Started with Jetpack VideoPress via the Jetpack Plugin

Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com rather than your host’s servers. This allows your videos to be loaded more quickly on your website. Jetpack VideoPress requires a paid Jetpack VideoPress plan. You can learn more about our plans on our pricing page.

Looking for more information about Jetpack VideoPress add-on plugin? See our article about Getting Started with Jetpack VideoPress via the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin.

What do I need to use Jetpack VideoPress on my site?

  • A web host that meets the WordPress host requirements.
  • The latest version of WordPress. If your version of WordPress is out of date, you’ll see a prompt to automatically upgrade with a single click, or can upgrade manually.
  • A WordPress.com account. Don’t have one yet? Sign up for one here, or create one during the Jetpack connection flow. You only need one WordPress.com account to access all our services (including Akismet, Crowdsignal, Gravatar, and WordPress.com itself). If you use any of these services, you already have a WordPress.com account to connect to Jetpack. You can reset your WordPress.com password if you need to.
  • A publicly accessible WordPress site: no password protection or Coming Soon / Maintenance Mode plugin in use.
  • A working Jetpack connection.
  • A publicly accessible XML-RPC file.

Adding Jetpack VideoPress to your Jetpack plugin

  1. Go to WP Admin -> Jetpack -> My Jetpack
  1. Find VideoPress and click Add VideoPress
  1. Click on Add Jetpack VideoPress on the following page.
  2. You’ll be brought back to your My Jetpack page once installed. Click Manage.

Within your WP Admin -> Jetpack menu you’ll now see that you have a VideoPress tab. Here, you’ll be able to add your first video. You will also see an option to upgrade your VideoPress to our paid VideoPress plan:

Jetpack VideoPress allows you to start for free. You are able to add 1 video to VideoPress with up to 1GB of storage space available compared to our paid tier which allows 1TB of storage. You can view all features of Jetpack VideoPress here.

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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VideoPress: Video Privacy

With Jetpack VideoPress you are able to select your privacy settings whether leaving your videos to your default site privacy settings, public, or private. You are also able to determine whether or not all of your current and future videos are private.

Requirements

Jetpack VideoPress is available to anyone with a Jetpack Complete, or VideoPress plan. The Video Privacy feature is available on either of these plans.

Video Privacy settings are accessible in the VideoPress Block settings panel.

Setting Your Privacy

You can access and change your video privacy settings directly from your Media Library or within a post or page that you are adding a video to.

Change Privacy in the Media Library:

  1. Go to WordPress.com.
  2. In the top left corner, click Switch Site and select the Jetpack-connected site you’re working on.
  3. Go to Media.
  4. Click on the video(s) that you want to change privacy settings on or upload a new video by clicking the Add New button.
  5. When you click on the video(s) you’ll then click the Edit button, this will open a pop-up with your video and all applicable settings.
  6. Under the Privacy setting you’ll see options for Site Default, Public or Private. Select your desired privacy setting and then click Done.

Change Privacy in a Post or Page:

To get started access a post or page that has an uploaded VideoPress video or create a new one. Once you have selected your page or post add a video and allow the upload process to begin.

Check out our Uploading a Video to Jetpack VideoPress for help with uploading videos.

Accessible by selecting the block.

In the right sidebar under Block Settings, scroll down to Video Privacy. Here you will see that privacy will default to your site privacy settings.

By selecting the dropdown you can select Site Default, Public, or Private. Select the option you need for your video.

When you choose Private only members of your site will be able to view the video on your post or pages. Non-Members will see a video player that looks like the image to the right.

This video uploaded does not have a poster image. If you selected to show a poster image that image would be displayed with the private overlay message.

Both videos have post images selected.

If you have multiple videos within a post or page that you’d like to be selective about privacy you can change the privacy settings for each video. For example, to the right, you can see two videos that are set as Public.

When you change the block settings for one of these videos to be Private instead of public a non-member of your site will see this instead:

One video is public and another is private.

Advanced Settings

If you prefer to be selective about which videos are private or public you can manage each block’s settings through the steps above.

If you prefer all of your videos to be private except to members of your site you can change those settings into perpetuity for your site.

If you’re using the Jetpack Plugin

  • In your site’s WP Admin, go to Jetpack > Settings > Performance
  • Scroll down to Media > VideoPress > Video Privacy
  • Toggle “Restrict views to members of this site

If you’re using the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin

  • In your site’s WP Admin, go to Jetpack > VideoPress.
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
  • Toggle “Video Privacy: Restrict views to members of this site”

Once that option is toggled your videos will now be restricted to members of your site and no longer visible to non-members.

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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Add a Video Using the Classic Editor

Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com, rather than on your host’s servers. You can then insert these on your self-hosted Jetpack site.

To add HD, ad-free video hosting to your WordPress site, check out Jetpack VideoPress.

This page describes how to use Jetpack VideoPress when using the Classic Editor plugin or a Classic block. You can find instructions for the standard block editor here.

For general features and FAQs, please see our information page.

Inserting a Video

In the post editor, position the cursor where you’d like the video to be displayed. Then click the “Add Media” button to bring up the Media Library view. From that view, select your video.

Adjusting Video Settings

After embedding a video, you can adjust a few settings that will affect how it behaves on this page/post. Select the video, click the pencil icon, and then update the settings as needed.

Adjusting Sharing Settings

Jetpack VideoPress makes video playback and sharing a simple experience for your viewers through our default sharing options. Using the share links, your viewers will be able to easily download and embed your videos. By default, clicking the sharing icon in the top right of the video player reveals the following sharing options:

This will give anyone viewing your videos the option to download the video file in a variety of formats, and options for sharing the video permalink or iframe embed code. If you would like to disable sharing, you can do that in the video settings in the Media Library.

Note: Disabling the sharing options removes the functionality from the video player, but it is still possible to download the video from your browser. We take reasonable steps to prevent embedding on other sites by hiding the sharing options, which should stop most attempts.

Video Stats

All videos come with stats tracking, which can be viewed within your Jetpack Stats. You can scroll down and find the “Videos” stats:

Clicking on “Video” will take you to the page that shows more statistics:

Impressions: The number of times a video was loaded on the page.

Hours watched: The total number of hours that the video has been watched by all viewers.

Views: The total number of how many times the video was played.

Additional Information

The VideoPress seekbar automatically changes color for a better video-watching experience. The color-changing effect can be activated and deactivated by appending the useAverageColor parameter to the VideoPress video URL and setting it to true or false.

Jetpack’s video hosting supports MP4 (.mp4, .m4v), QuickTime movies (.mov), Windows Media Video (.wmv), Audio Video Interleave (.avi), MPEG (.mpg), 3GPP ( .3gp ) and 3GPP2 ( .3g2 ).

Video hosting also allows you to retrieve a video’s [wpvideo xyz] shortcode, and insert it into your post. You can then modify the video by adding these parameters in the shortcode:

  • w=X for width in pixels, do not include units
  • h=Y for height in pixels, do not include units
  • hd=true/false to force HD playback
  • freedom=true/false to force only use open-source video formats
  • autoplay=true/false to automatically play the video when it loads
  • loop=true/false to automatically play the video over and over
  • at=x to specify a time offset in seconds that the video will start

All files are optimized for progressive loading, enabling viewers to play your video while it downloads.

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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Video Block

Jetpack’s Video block enhances the existing WordPress Video block and allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com, rather than on your host’s servers. You can then insert these videos into posts and pages on your Jetpack site.

Note: this page describes how to use the Video Block when using the Block Editor. You can find instructions on adding a Video on the Classic editor here. For general features and FAQs, please see our marketing page.

Requirements

To use the Video block, your site should have an active Jetpack Security or Complete plan.

To enable the block, go to Jetpack → Settings → Performance and activate “Enable high-speed, ad-free video player”.

Video Block will be disabled if video sharing setting is turned off. Shortcode block can be used in this case.

Adding the Video block

You can add the Video block by searching and/or selecting it from the Jetpack section of the block selector:

Be sure to select the Video block rather than the VideoPress block as these are different.

See Jetpack Blocks for detailed instructions on adding blocks.

Adding a Video

You can add a video directly within the block itself by dragging the file to the block or using one of the three buttons: Upload, Media Library, and Insert from URL.

Upload will allow you to upload a new video file from your computer.

Media Library allows to you select any video file that’s already been uploaded to your library, including those that have been uploaded to our servers.

Insert from URL allows you to insert any video URL, both from Jetpack’s video hosting and third-party services. If you insert a URL from another supported block type, such as YouTube, the Video block will automatically transform into a YouTube block.

Links added to the video block from external services will transform into their respective block.
Links added to the video block from external services will transform into their respective block.

Once the video is embedded in the page, you can add an optional caption if desired.

Block Toolbar

The video block toolbar supports all alignment options.

As with the image block, the Video block can be inline-aligned with the paragraph below it by clicking the left-align or right-align icons.

Edit Video

The edit option in the Video block’s toolbar will allow you to select a new video file for your block. Use this if you need to replace the video file in your block.

Block Settings

Every block has specific options in the editor sidebar in addition to the options found in the block toolbar. If you do not see the sidebar, simply click the ‘cog’ icon next to the Publish button.

The block settings can be found in the sidebar.
The block settings can be found in the sidebar.

Autoplay, Loop, & Muted

These options let you set your video file to autoplay when someone visits the page or post. Looping lets you choose if the video file repeats after it’s finished. You can also choose to mute the video if your circumstance requires it.

Note: some browsers do not respect the autoplay settings, so that setting may not work in all browsers. You may need to enable mute for autoplay to work in those instances.

The block settings include Autoplay, Loop, Muted, Playback Controls, Preload, and a Poster Image.
The block settings include Autoplay, Loop, Muted, Playback Controls, Preload, and a Poster Image.

Playback Controls

Toggle this option to show or hide the playback control overlay on the video.

Preload

This option allows you to select how much of the video file is downloaded when the page or post is loaded. While it may be tempting to go ahead and have the whole file download automatically, keep in mind that this can slow your page’s load speed down.

There are three settings:

None – Nothing about the video file is downloaded automatically. The download of the video file only begins when your visitor clicks the Play button. This is the fastest setting.

Metadata – Only basic info about the file will be downloaded automatically. Like the None option, the download of the video file only begins when someone clicks Play. This setting is also very fast, as the only thing downloaded is text. On a fundamental level, there’s not a big difference between None and Metadata.

Auto – The entire video file is downloaded, regardless of whether the visitor clicks the Play button or not. This makes the biggest impact on your page or post’s load speed, especially with larger video files.

Poster Image

Optionally, you can choose a poster image that will be displayed before a video is set to Play, this can be useful if the first frame of the video isn’t necessarily appealing or indicative of the video content.

Advanced

The advanced tab lets you add a CSS class to your block, allowing you to write custom CSS and style the block as you see fit.

The advanced section lets you add a CSS class to your block.
The advanced section lets you add a CSS class to your block.

Troubleshooting

If you’re having any trouble uploading videos, please refer to Troubleshooting Video Hosting Issues.

Privacy Information

This feature is deactivated by default. It can be activated/deactivated at any time by toggling the Enable high-speed, ad-free video player” setting in the Video section at Jetpack → SettingsPerformance in your dashboard.

Data Used
Site Owners / Users

 

 

In order to track video plays for your stats, we will send the site ID, post ID (on which the video is played), and domain name of your site with these events.

If Google Analytics tracking is enabled, some video information (size, quality, format, file name, ID, etc.) will be sent there, as well.

Please refer to the privacy documentation for WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics for more information on the data used to record video play tracking.

 

Site Visitors

 

 

Please refer to the privacy documentation for WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics for more information on the data used to record video play tracking.

Activity Tracked
Site Owners / Users

 

 

Video plays.

We track when, and by which user, the feature is activated and deactivated.

Site Visitors

 

 

Video plays.

Data Synced (Read More)
Site Owners / Users

 

 

We sync options that identify whether or not the feature is activated and how its available settings are configured.

Site Visitors

 

 

None.

 
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Photos and Videos

Jetpack provides everything you need to embed high-resolution photos and videos on any page without slowing down your site.

Use Jetpack to add some fun to your images. Tiled Galleries let you display multiple photos — choose from five layouts! — and Carousel makes it easy for your visitors to view individual images.

Have videos? Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com, rather than on your host’s servers. You can then insert these on your self-hosted Jetpack site in their very own video player. And if you need extra help getting those pictures to load fast, we’ve got you covered too: Jetpack’s Image CDN helps your images fly onto the screen.

  • Add a VideoPress Video Using the Block Editor - Jetpack's video hosting feature allows you to upload videos from your computer for hosting and playback directly within your site.
  • Carousel - With Carousel active, any standard WordPress galleries you have embedded in posts or pages will launch a gorgeous full-screen photo browsing experience with comments and EXIF metadata.
  • Lazy Loading Images - Lazy Images makes pages load much faster by only loading visible images, waiting to load images that are offscreen as you scroll down.
  • Slideshow Block - The Slideshow block lets you insert an image slideshow into a post or page.
  • Pinterest Block - The Pinterest block is the easiest way to embed Pinterest content to your site: it allows you to embed boards, profiles, and pins.
  • Image Compare Block - The Image Compare Block allows you to display and compare the differences between two images side by side (or above and below) thanks to a slider.
  • Pexels Free Photo Library - Certain photo-related Jetpack blocks integrate with the Free Photo Library, courtesy of Pexels. Pexels includes a library of over 40,000 beautiful copyright-free images to use on your site. Important note: Any images you import into your Media Library with the Free Photo Library will count against your server storage limits. Please consult your host’s customer […]
  • Using your Google photos with Jetpack - You can connect Jetpack to your Google account to use your Google Photos in Jetpack’s image-related blocks. The first time you choose to add Google Photos, you’ll be asked only once to authorize the connection. If you have multiple Google accounts, ensure you’re logged into the one you wish to link to Jetpack! Jetpack image […]
  • Troubleshooting Video Hosting Issues - How to resolve common issues with Jetpack Video Hosting.
  • Story Block - The Story block allows you to combine photos and videos to create an engaging, tappable full-screen slideshow on your site’s posts and pages. Stories published on your site won’t disappear after 24 hours and you can edit or add to stories after they are published.
  • Classic: Tiled Galleries - Tiled Galleries with the Classic Editor: allowing you to display your image galleries as a thumbnail grid, tiled mosaic, square tiles, circles, tiled columns or as a slideshow.
  • Add a Video Using the Classic Editor - Jetpack's video hosting feature allows you to upload videos from your computer for hosting and playback directly within your site.
  • Jetpack VideoPress: Uploading your videos - For more efficient video performance, videos hosted via Jetpack VideoPress use WordPress.com’s servers rather than your host’s server. There are a few ways to upload videos into Jetpack VideoPress: Only Jetpack-connected users with the Administrator role can upload videos to a VideoPress-powered site. All Administrators can view all the uploaded videos on the site’s Media […]
  • Jetpack VideoPress - Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com, rather than on your host’s servers. This allows your videos to be loaded more quickly on your website. How do I get Jetpack VideoPress? Jetpack VideoPress is available to anyone with a Jetpack Complete, or VideoPress plan and an active […]
  • Changing the Video Thumbnail - Jetpack VideoPress allows you to choose a frame or upload an image to use as the thumbnail of your videos. Using a Video Frame Thumbnail To use a frame from your video as the thumbnail for the video: Using a Custom Image Thumbnail While there isn’t a minimum required image size for your custom image […]
  • Openverse Media Library Support - Openverse, previously known as CC Search, is a search engine for openly licensed media. Openverse has an index of over 600 million Creative Commons licensed and public domain image files, all of which can be used on your site free of charge. Certain Jetpack blocks now include built-in support for Openverse. ​​Important note: Any images […]
  • VideoPress: Video Privacy - With VideoPress you are able to select your privacy settings whether leaving your videos to your default site privacy settings, public, or private. You are also able to determine whether or not all of your current and future videos are private.
  • Jetpack VideoPress: Customizing your videos - Here are some tips and tricks for customizing your Jetpack VideoPress videos. Modify a Video’s Settings You can modify a video’s thumbnail, title, caption, description, sharing settings and rating after the video upload and conversion completes. To modify these settings: Video Settings Title, Caption, and Description You have the option to add a video title, […]
  • External Media Page - Enjoy media providers and benefit from openly-licensed images in your posts and pages. Jetpack image-related blocks now provide open license images directly on your site. Add an Image or Gallery Block and click Select image(s) to start. Openverse Openverse has an index of over 600 million Creative Commons licensed and public domain image files, all […]
  • Getting Started with Jetpack VideoPress via the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin - Jetpack VideoPress is a new plugin that allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com rather than your host’s servers.
  • The Jetpack VideoPress Dashboard - The Jetpack VideoPress dashboard is a new page that allows you to upload and manage your videos in one place.
  • Uploading Your Videos to Jetpack VideoPress via the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin - For more efficient video performance, videos hosted via Jetpack VideoPress use WordPress.com’s servers rather than your host’s server.
  • Changing Your Jetpack VideoPress Thumbnail via the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin - Update Thumbnail You can also add a different image from your Media Library or by uploading from your computer. To add your own image as a thumbnail: You can also update your thumbnail by clicking the Edit video details button. This option will open a page where you can edit your video title and description […]
  • Customizing Your Jetpack VideoPress Videos via the Jetpack VideoPress Plugin - Getting started with Video Settings through the VideoPress Dashboard. Once you’ve uploaded your video, you can hover over the video to see options like: Edit Video Details When you click on Edit video details, you’ll be brought to your summarized details page for your video. Here you’ll be able to edit your Title, Description, and […]
  • Activating Jetpack VideoPress via License Key - Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com, rather than on your host’s servers. This allows your videos to be loaded more quickly on your website. Installing Jetpack VideoPress via License Key There are a few ways to obtain your license key for Jetpack VideoPress With either option, […]
  • Getting Started with Jetpack VideoPress via the Jetpack Plugin - Jetpack VideoPress allows you to upload videos from your computer to be hosted on WordPress.com rather than your host’s servers. This allows your videos to be loaded more quickly on your website. Jetpack VideoPress requires a paid Jetpack VideoPress plan. You can learn more about our plans on our pricing page. Looking for more information about […]
  • Viewing Jetpack VideoPress Stats - All videos come with stats tracking, which can be viewed within your WP Admin or via WordPress.com Jetpack Stats. Viewing Jetpack VideoPress Stats via WP Admin You can access your video stats directly from your WP Admin: At a glance, you will see your most popular videos along with the respective numbers of views. By […]
  • Jetpack VideoPress Shortcodes - VideoPress Shortcodes allow you to embed your videos exactly where you want them giving you control over your media and content.

Need help with any of Jetpack’s photo and video features? Feel free to contact us for more personalized assistance.

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Add a VideoPress Video Using the Block Editor

The VideoPress block allows you to insert your Jetpack VideoPress videos into posts and pages on your website.

To use the VideoPress block, your site should have an active Jetpack Complete or VideoPress plan. If you are using the Classic Editor plugin, please refer to this guide instead: Add a Video Using the Classic Editor.

Insert the VideoPress Block

You can add the VideoPress block by searching for and selecting it within the block selector. You can also type /videopress directly into the content of the page/post, then select the block from the drop-down that appears.

Please be sure to select the VideoPress block and not the Video block, as the VideoPress block includes special features designed for VideoPress.

Adding the VideoPress Block from the block selector.

Adding the VideoPress block by typing /videopress into the content area.

Select a Video

You can add a video directly within the block by dragging the file to the block, or you can use one of the three buttons: Upload, Media Library, or Insert from URL.

  • Upload will allow you to upload a new video file from your computer. You’ll see a progress bar where you can pause and resume the upload, and you’ll be able to edit your Video Title and Thumbnail for your video as your video uploads. See our article on Uploading a Video to Jetpack VideoPress for recommendations on file size and format for your videos.

  • Media Library allows you to select any VideoPress file that’s already been uploaded to your library.
  • Insert from URL allows you to insert the video URL directly.

Once the video successfully uploads, you’ll see the ‘Upload complete!’ notification. When you are settled with your Video Title and Thumbnail, click Done and you’ll see your video embedded into your post or page. From there, you’ll be able to set a caption for your video and access the Block Toolbar.

Block Toolbar

The VideoPress block toolbar allows you to change the video’s alignment on the page, change the video’s poster image, and add text tracks.

Change Alignment

By clicking the Change alignment button, you can change the video’s alignment to Align left, Align center, Align right, Wide width, or Full width.

Edit Poster Image

Clicking the poster image button will allow you to change the poster image for the video. This is the image that will be displayed before a video is played. This can be useful if the first frame of the video isn’t necessarily appealing or indicative of the video content.

While there isn’t a minimum required size for your poster image, we recommend that the image be at least the size of your video.

For example, if your video is a 1080p video, you should use an image that is 1920 by 1080 pixels.

Adding Subtitles or Captions within a Video

You can add subtitles or captions within your video by using a .vtt file. After adding your video using the VideoPress block, click on the Text Tracks icon, as shown below:

You can then press Upload Track to upload your .vtt file. The Label and Source Language fields will automatically be populated if nothing is inserted.

Click Save and your track will be added to the video. When you preview your post or page, you will see the subtitles menu that will be available in the video player, with your text track available as an option for a viewer to select.

Note that viewers can use the Captions Settings menu in the VideoPress player to customize the appearance of the subtitles or captions text to their liking.

Block Settings

Every block has options available in the editor sidebar. If you do not see the sidebar, click the ‘cog’ icon next to the Publish button, and it will appear.

The block settings can be found in the sidebar.

Title and Description

Here, you can add a title and description for your video, which is helpful for SEO and accessibility purposes.

The Description box can also be used to add chapters to your video. Chapters are a great way to split up longer videos and organize them into different sections. They allow your visitors to see what each section is about and skip to their favorite parts.

How to add Chapters to your VideoPress videos

  1. In the Description box, add a list of timestamps and titles.
  2. Make sure that the first timestamp starts with 00:00.
  3. Add at least three chapters entries.
  4. Add your chapters entries in consecutive order, with at least 10-second intervals between each.

An example of correctly formatted video chapters.

Playback Settings

This section of the sidebar lets you control several settings:

  • Autoplay: This option lets you set your video to automatically play when someone visits your page or post. Some browsers do not respect this setting. You may need to enable mute for autoplay to work in those instances.
  • Loop: This option allows you to choose if the video repeats automatically after it plays through. 
  • Muted: This option allows you to choose if the video has sound when it plays. Users can still unmute the video from the player controls. It’s recommended to use the muted option if you choose to have your video autoplay.
  • Show Controls: This option allows you to show or hide the playback controls on the video. This option is turned on by default.
  • Play Inline: This option allows ​​your video to be played inline within the element’s playback area. However, not selecting this option doesn’t mean that your video will always be played fullscreen.

VideoPress Progress Bar Colors

You can use the Color settings to control the color of the progress bar in the VideoPress player.

VideoPress will automatically default to the Match Video setting, which will allow the progress bar to adapt to the video as it plays. If you toggle off Match Video, you’ll be presented with three color sections to change: Main, Loaded, and Progress.

After you select your desired Progress Bar colors, be sure to click Save Colors. Now, you’ll be able to see and customize your selected colors while previewing them in the player. When you update your page or post, these color changes will be live on your selected video.

Privacy and Rating

These settings allow you to control the video privacy, the video rating, and whether the VideoPress player should include the option to download the video.

Rating: Allows you to select a rating for the video, based on its content.

Privacy: This setting allows you to change whether or not the video is considered Private, for site members only, or Public, for all visitors to your site. For more information, check out our VideoPress: Privacy article.

Allow Download: This allows you to control whether the VideoPress player should include the option for users to download the video.

Advanced

The advanced tab lets you add a CSS class to your block, allowing you to write custom CSS and style the block as you see fit.

Please note that the video player is embedded in an iframe, meaning it’s not possible to style the video player with CSS.

Only the <div> which contains the video player can be styled with CSS.

You can also add an HTML anchor to the block, which lets you link directly to that section of the page.

Video Stats

An overview of the overall video stats can be found within your Jetpack Stats. You can scroll down and find the “Videos” stats:

Clicking on “Video” will take you to the page that shows more statistics:

Impressions: The number of times a video was loaded on the page.

Hours watched: The total number of hours that the video has been watched by all viewers.

Views: The total number of how many times the video was played.

Troubleshooting

If you’re having trouble with videos, please refer to the article on Uploading a Video to Jetpack VideoPress or Troubleshooting Video Hosting Issues.

Still need help?

Please contact support directly. We’re happy to lend a hand and answer any other questions that you may have.

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