Interested in adding videos to your WordPress website? Videos can be a great way to engage your audience and improve conversions. However, directly uploading videos to your WordPress site can lead to storage and bandwidth issues, which can increase your hosting expenses and create a poor user experience. In this article, we will discuss why you should avoid uploading videos to WordPress and explore the best method for adding videos to your website.
Understanding the Difference: Uploads vs. Embeds
Before we delve into the reasons to avoid video uploads on WordPress, it’s important to clarify the difference between uploads and embeds. Uploading a video means storing the video files directly on your site, similar to how you upload and store images in the WordPress media library. However, we strongly discourage this method. On the other hand, embedding a video involves first uploading it to a third-party platform, such as YouTube, and then embedding it into your blog posts. While the video can be viewed on your website, it is actually stored elsewhere. Embedding videos is the preferred approach, and we highly recommend it for various reasons.
Benefits of Embedding Videos on WordPress
Embedding videos on WordPress offers several advantages over direct uploads. Let’s explore a few key benefits:
1. Simplified Video Management: Embedding a video in WordPress is much simpler than uploading it directly. You can easily share a video uploaded on YouTube or another video-sharing platform by simply pasting the URL into your blog posts. Managing a channel on YouTube is also significantly easier.
2. Enhanced Sharing and Virality: By uploading your videos to platforms like YouTube, you make it easier for viewers to share your content and potentially make it go viral. The social networking features of video-sharing websites can help boost the popularity of your videos, reaching a wider audience.
3. Bandwidth Optimization: Uploading videos to your website consumes a significant amount of bandwidth, especially with high-quality videos. If you allow visitors to embed your videos on their own websites, this bandwidth usage multiplies each time the video is viewed. Additionally, integrating video plugins to manage and display videos can further increase your server load if they are not optimized for speed. This can result in your site being suspended, especially if you are using shared web hosting.
4. Superior User Experience: Video hosting platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo, automatically optimize videos for a better web browsing experience. They offer multiple resolution options, allowing viewers to choose the quality that best suits their internet connection and device. By uploading videos directly to WordPress, you miss out on these optimizations, potentially affecting the user experience and consuming more bandwidth.
The Power of Video Hosting Services
In addition to the reasons mentioned above, video hosting services offer a plethora of features that you can benefit from by avoiding direct video uploads. Here are some advantages of using a reputable video hosting service:
– Automatic adjustment of video quality based on visitors’ internet speeds
– Access to a broader audience through the platform’s network
– Monetization options, such as YouTube’s Partner Program
– Robust analytics and reporting tools
– Advanced customization and branding opportunities
At WPBeginner, our preferred video hosting service is YouTube. As the second most popular search engine globally, YouTube can help you attract more viewers and followers. They also offer a Partners Program, enabling you to monetize your videos. After uploading your videos to YouTube, you can use plugins like YouTube Feed Pro or Envira Gallery to display YouTube video galleries on your WordPress site. For other video hosting options, take a look at our list of the best video hosting sites.
Conclusion
To sum up, we strongly advise against directly uploading videos to WordPress due to concerns about storage, bandwidth, and user experience. Embedding videos from third-party platforms, such as YouTube, provides a more efficient and optimized solution. Not only does it simplify video management, but it also enhances sharing capabilities, optimizes bandwidth usage, and improves the overall user experience. By utilizing video hosting services, you can unlock additional features and reach a wider audience. Follow these best practices to seamlessly incorporate videos into your WordPress website while avoiding unnecessary complications. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more WordPress video tutorials and stay connected with us on Twitter and Facebook.
