Embedding YouTube videos into your WordPress.com posts

If you’d like to plug a YouTube video into your blog post, this video will show you how

Comments

70 responses to “Embedding YouTube videos into your WordPress.com posts”

  1. This video is a life saver! I could not get a video I my blog at all, but now I got it. Thank you WordPress.

  2. Too Fast
    Use less zoom,more cuts,so that the eye can focus and catch up with what you are saying.

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Thanks for your feedback, Allan.

      It’s somewhat of a tightrope act when you’re working with 16:9 and at embeddable, web-delivered dimensions and rez. In my experience too many cuts can prove disorientating as to where you are in the interface and disrupt context. Holding wide angle shots can drastically reduce legibility, especially at the 400 to 600 pixels across a lot of embedded video has to live within.

      I appreciate that a surfeit of zooms and pans can be equally detrimental (and cause sea-sickness). Oh that Classical Hollywood conventions held up under these circumstances 🙂

  3. Nice Video.
    But in my WordPress-Installation (2.7) the menu to upload videos per URL looks different. I only have 2 fields: Video-URL and Title. The suggestions for Youtube and Google and so on are completly missing. If i fill in the URL i only get a normal Link – no video. Any clues?

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Hi sixpack – we’ll be bringing easy embeds to WordPress.org blogs soon – at the moment this only works on WordPress.com. However – if you paste the embed code of your YouTube video (rather than the URL) directly into the HTML editor (rather than the visual editor), you’ll have embedded videos. WordPress.com users can’t do this for security reasons.

      1. “we’ll be bringing easy embeds to WordPress.org blogs soon”

        It’s been 10 months and i still can’t get this to work with my 2.8.4 installation 🙁

      2. Read here for more on what’s planned for WordPress 2.9:

        http://www.viper007bond.com/2009/10/13/easy-embeds-for-wordpress-2-point-9/

      3. This options does not work!

      4. Hi Michael-Thank you so much for the hint! I have been trying to upload video via Visual Editor and couldn’t succeed but after reading your comment i did it! cant believe this. Thanks ever so much for helping me out. Now I can see my favorite video and manage to share on my site.Cheers

  4. fransonfamilychiropractic Avatar
    fransonfamilychiropractic

    Does WordPress.com allow an autoplay feature of YouTube embedded videos? I can paste the embed code with autoplay of my video into MySpace and it plays perfectly. That same code will display the video on my blog post, but not autoplay it. Do I need to do something differently or does wordpress.com not enable this feature? Thanks for your help!

    1. Please see http://support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/#additional-options to learn which options are currently available for YouTube videos on WordPress.com.

  5. E-Z as pie! Thank you in 100 different languages!

    jps

  6. daveandkarina Avatar
    daveandkarina

    I’m on wordpress.com and followed the instructions but can’t get the video embedded into my post. It just shows up as a link.

    1. Having the same problem as daveandkarina.

      1. Except I’ve tried entering it into the HTML editor and still having no luck.

      2. Michael Pick Avatar
        Michael Pick

        Ryan, if you’re experiencing this problem on a WordPress.com blog, the support team (linked) will be happy to help you out. If you’re self-hosting, you might want to consider some of the awesome video plugins available (also linked) that take embedding video to the next level

  7. daveandkarina Avatar
    daveandkarina

    just figured it out. I need to embed it into the HTML editor

  8. Nick DeStefano Avatar
    Nick DeStefano

    Wow…..THAT was truly TOO fast felt like I was watching an auto commercial where the announcer talks at 40 mph while the “small print ” is scrolled at 60mph past your eyes………supposed to Learn from that ? nah……….

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Thanks for the feedback, Nick. We’re working with the principle that as there’s no “fast forward”, it’s easier for people to be able to pause a video on the steps they need to perform than have to sit through the actions in real-time. However, we do make a note of the feedback people leave, and if the videos prove too fast to be useful for most people, this is something that can be revised in future. Alternatively, we have step-by-step guides over at WordPress.com support

  9. casa100 Avatar

    yes .it is very easy .thank you

  10. Argusray Avatar
    Argusray

    Let me add my voice to the rest who feel this video is too fast, i.e., cut too quickly. In order to make use of it I have to stop and start it as I take notes. Not very useful as is and it would be very east to do a better job, i.e., reasonably paced, that would be very useful. Think about it.

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! Alas, the shortcoming of video is that the audience isn’t able to set its own pace – it’s always too fast or too slow for someone. However, feedback is taken on board and I assure you, I do think about it in production. For a more self-paced solution to the problem, check out our screen-shot tour and text version at WordPress.com support (linked). Also – we welcome video contributions from our users if anyone would like to provide an alternate, more leisurely version.

  11. adeblois Avatar
    adeblois

    this really only works with a youtube video that has a mere webpage address and video ‘number’ it looks up.
    this doesn’t help you if you have a video to embed from any other source.

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      This is a YouTube-specific tutorial – however, our VodPod functionality lets you embed pretty much anything else. You can also get more advice on using different services, like Flickr, Vimeo and more at WordPress.com support (linked search)

  12. thanks

  13. I only managed to get it to add a text link when I followed these instructions. How do I get it to embed the video. I suspect I’ve done something wrong. Let me know – here’s the post:
    http://www.herbusinessblog.com/grow-your-business/networking/6-good-reasons-to-join-a-business-network

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Looks like you have a self-hosted blog? These instructions are for WordPress.com. You’re best bet with a self-hosted blog would be to copy the embed code directly from YouTube, and paste it into the HTML view of your post editor. Alternatively there are a lot of great video plugins for self-hosted blogs to make things easier. Head to Plugins > Add New and run a search for “video” or “YouTube”. You’ll be able to check out and install plugins right from there.

  14. Ayann Radu-Alexandru Avatar
    Ayann Radu-Alexandru

    Hmm 🙂 this i know, is not that hard… but what i need to do when i want to put a video from other site’s beside youtube.com and wordpress don’t “accept”… because are not uplouded in the post’s! So… only youtube work for wordpress?
    You (wordpress) need to do something with this, if it is like this!

    1. WordPress.com supports quite a few video sites through shortcodes. Here’s a list for you.

  15. Ayann Radu-Alexandru Avatar
    Ayann Radu-Alexandru

    Here… ??? Where? …i don’t see no list!!!

    1. The list is here: http://support.wordpress.com/videos/ 🙂

  16. This hasn’t worked for me. I’m using WordPress on my own hosted domain and I only get a link, not an embedded video. Am I missing something or isn’t it possible?

    1. That’s because this tutorial is specifically for WordPress.com. Not all of the shortcodes available at WordPress.com are automatically available for self-hosted WordPress.org blogs. Check out the following WordPress.org support forum thread: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/221538

  17. markyturner Avatar
    markyturner

    How do I embded only a portion of a youtube video? ie Say I only want to start a video after 40 seconds?

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      This isn’t a feature YouTube offers to the best of my knowledge, and isn’t something we control

      1. shoemakes Avatar
        shoemakes

        Youtube does allow you to do this, in two different ways. Either by adding a #t=XmXs to the URL, or by adding &start=XX (XX being in seconds) to the embed code. Would REALLY be nice to be able to do this in WordPress.

      2. OK, one more time let’s see if I can get my example to show without the example itself embedding!!!!

        this works in WordPress. You have to append the &start=xx to the video url in the short code. Unfortunately YouTube gives you code in minutes and seconds so you’ll have to do a bit of mathematics first to make it work.

  18. danika Avatar

    Something recently changed at wordpress.org. I have a number of blogs where in the past I’ve inserted youtube videos simply by using the embed coding that I copy from YouTube. Now the wordpress editor is stripping a lot of that code out so it doesn’t work anymore. The youtube videos in the existing blogs still work if I don’t edit them. However, the embed code no longer works in new blogs or any previous blogs which have been edited. Nice to know that wordpress is such a stable product that I can depend on. NOT!

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Sorry to hear you’ve been experiencing difficulties – can I recommend that you submit this to the WordPress.org forums, to help other people identify the problem or come up with a solution.

  19. Hey danika, give them some slack, video is not simple thing. I am sure they are aware of that and after it will get fixed you will fall in love with it again. WordPress is a great tool.

    Best to you all.

  20. itsmedavid Avatar
    itsmedavid

    it didnt work

  21. avelasquez Avatar
    avelasquez

    Hi, thanks for the post but I would like to know How I can insert an object video from Youtube, a personal player to show al my favorite video list… thats an object created thru Youtube wich give us the code and we can insert it in our posts… I have no clue on how to do it… thank you!

    1. If you’re using a blog hosted at WordPress.com, please take a read through these instructions and double-check the video tutorial. All you’ll need is the URL of the YouTube video itself and you can create insert the video.

      If you are using the self-hosted flavor of WordPress, you might want to look for a plugin to help you handle video or start up a conversation or search on the WordPress.org forums.

  22. this does not work in WP 2.8.2 – no embedded video is show just an HREF link is created. Manually entering [youtube=url] fails as well.

    How to do in 2.8.2?

    1. This tutorial is composed specifically for users of WordPress.com, which has some additional functionality added to handle YouTube as shown in this video. You’ll have to add a plugin to give you this type of ability in self-hosted WordPress. You can search for one at the WordPress plugins directory (or use the built-in search in your administration interface).

  23. I have the same problem with Six-Pack [my WordPress-Installation, the menu to upload video URL looks different. I only have 2 fields: Video-URL and Title. The suggestions for Youtube and Google instructions and so on are completly missing. When I filled out in the Video URL text box, I only get a normal Link – no video.], but I’m using wordpress.com. I did also try the another way (HTML code)to embed video from youtube into my wordpress blog, but it did NOT help at all. Please show me how to solve the problem. Thanks a lot.

    1. Please check out these instructions from the WordPress.com support pages first, and if you are still running into trouble, I suggest you contact the WordPress.com support team and they’ll be happy to help you figure this one out.

    2. Hi Daisy,
      for me pasting the embed code of a YouTube video (rather than the URL) directly into the HTML editor (rather than the visual editor), did the job. WordPress.com users can’t do this for security reasons.

      Perhaps you should try using this plugin:
      http://www.jovelstefan.de/embedded-video/

      But i dont know if its allowed to use plugins as a Worpress.com-User.

    3. I have an own Blog and I dont have that options, too. But using the youtube Code wont help, it’s not w3c conform…
      Whatever, I also use a Plugin for that, “XHTML Video Embed”, it embeds Youtube Videos w3c conform…

  24. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but does this work whether or not you get this VideoPress upgrade thing that is mentioned in the FAQs?

    1. You can use embed shortcodes either with or without the VideoPress upgrade.

  25. I took the entire embed code from the youtube video (located on the right) and pasted into the HTML editor for my wordpress blog and it works great. thanks for this 🙂

  26. Is it possible to play the video in a flash player like the one on this page?

  27. gerkikay Avatar
    gerkikay

    thanks! just what i need to start adding videos to my posts!

  28. I do have the latest WPMU-version installed.
    I am not able to find the “Upload Video Option”.

    How to EMBED a YouTube-Video ? I can just link to a YouTube-video by using “Add Media”, but it is not possible to embed a Video directly into my Main-Blog.

    Please help.

    1. Inserting the embed code should work for most videos. (Please note that this tutorial is for blogs on WordPress.com.) Otherwise, you may need to install a plugin to help your users with video embeds. Please check the Plugin Directory at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ and you should be able to find something that fits your needs.

  29. Thank you for these easy-to-follow instructions.
    Had been trying unsuccessfully to embed YouTube videos for weeks and now it’s simple and straightforward.
    Btw, although it’s unimportant, when I try using the “embed code” rather than the main YouTube web address, nothing appears on my blog.

  30. That same code will display the video on my blog post, but not autoplay it. Do I need to do something differently or does wordpress.com not enable this feature? Thanks for your help!

    1. WordPress.com does not enable autoplay.

  31. Won’t work for me.

    I only have URL and Link Title boxes, none of the text below. When I “insert into post” it displays a link, not a video.

    So this really isn’t helpful as it doesn’t explain what problems there might be.

    1. Is your blog hosted on WordPress.com? These instructions are only for blogs on WordPress.com. If you are, consider dropping our Support team a line at http://support.wordpress.com/contact/.

  32. Hi
    My WordPress embedded YouTube video worked fine. Now I added a new one, in exactly the same way and I get an error reading “an error occurred, please try later”.

    I went back to check my old code and noticed that my older post with video is also not working.

    http://www.notnormalforlondon.dreamhosters.com/2010/02/skijoring-grown-up-gymkhana/

    I have searched but cannot resolve this.

    I’d love some help!

  33. VERY simple when you know how, but I didn’t know how… so HUGE thanks!

  34. thanks for sharing this video.
    anyone with little bit knowledge add video in wordpress. In new post select HTML editor and copy and paste the video url and its done in no time.

  35. I will try embed one video youtube on my blog.
    Hope it’s work.

  36. bharath2020 Avatar
    bharath2020

    This is a Life Saver 🙂 Thank you very much

  37. Hej from Sweden,

    This was really easy !! Thank you so much !!! Now I can think seriously about adding videos with sounds of my goats.
    This is really fantastic!!!

  38. Reblogged this on Web 2.0, a Digital World to Be and commented:
    Πώς προσθέτουμε youtube video στο ιστολόγιό μας

  39. This is great but there is no upload video option on my WordPress blog. So what now?

  40. I did the exact same thing, but I don’t see the clip appear on my main page. Only the title of the post appears. I have to click on the title to go to the actual post to see the clip. How can I fix this? I want to see the clips on my main page as well.

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Published

January 5, 2009

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