Videos can significantly increase the importance of a WordPress page. It makes your content much more compelling to the users as well as the search engine crawler. Research has shown that users tend to spend more time on a web page where the key concept is presented via a video. To be honest, if I had to choose between a blog post where the content is too long [sort of like a written tutorial] and a WordPress video tutorial I would definitely be interested in the second option. That pretty much explains why video marketing has been so successful.
Issues With WordPress Video Embedding
I have always experienced issues trying to embed videos on my WordPress blog. Its just there are not many good options when it comes to video embedding. Even though there is a few I find them extremely confusing for the new WordPress users. Not all users are familiar with coding. Thats why they use WordPress. So it will be really good to have a solution that requires fewer steps to follow and meets users expectation.
Getting Started With Easy WordPress Video Player
Finally, I took an effort to create a plugin that may be able to resolve some of the major issues WordPress users were experiencing Easy Video Player.
This WordPress video player plugin allows you to embed your favorite videos in a post/page.
Easy Video Player Info
Requirements
- A self-hosted WordPress site running on a WordPress Optimized Environment.
- Support for the WordPress shortcode API.
Features
- Embed videos using simple shortcodes [no coding required]
- Play videos using HTML5
- Enable automatic fallback for browsers that dont support HTML5. It allows older browsers like Internet Explorer version 8 or lower to play your videos.
- Embed responsive videos so they look great while browsing from mobile devices.
Installation & Configuration
Embedding a Video in the Classic Editor
Download the Easy Video Player plugin
- Login to your Admin Dashboard and go to Plugins->Add New
- Click on the upload option
- Select the easy-video-player.zip file on your computer
- Install and Activate the plugin.
Now go to the Settings menu of the plugin [Settings->Easy Video Player] and check the Enable jQuery option. Thats all you need to do for configuring the plugin.
Embedding Videos in a Post/Page
Create a new post/page and embed the following shortcode:
Now replace the URL parameter with the actual URL of your video.
Thats it. Simply publish the post/page and your video will be embedded along with your content.
Video Autoplay
If you want a particular video to start playing automatically you can set the autoplay option to true in the shortcode:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" autoplay="true"]Control Player Size
To control the size of a video you can specify a width:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" width="640"]Control Player Aspect Ratio
The player aspect ratio is set to 16:9 by default. To override it you can specify a different ratio:
Poster Image
You can specify a poster image for your video by adding the poster parameter in the shortcode:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" poster="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/images/poster.jpg"]Video Loop
If you want a particular video to start playing again when it ends you can set the loop option to true in the shortcode:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" loop="true"]Video Muted
If you want to mute the audio output of the video by default you can set the muted option to true in the shortcode:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" muted="true"]Custom CSS
You can specify custom classes in the shortcode to customize the player. For example:
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" class="myclass"]You can specify more than one class [separated by whitespaces] in the shortcode.
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" class="myclass1 myclass2"]Player Template
By default, the player uses the Plyr template. However, you can choose a different player template using the template parameter.
[evp_embed_video url="//example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" template="mediaelement"]Video Preload
By default, the mediaelement template only rendersthe metadata of a video when the page loads.If you want to change this behavior you can set the preload option to auto or none in the shortcode.
- metadata: Only metadata should be loaded when the page loads[default]
- auto: The video should be loaded entirely when the page loads
- none: The video should not be loaded when the page loads
Center Video
By default, the mediaelement player is aligned to the left. However, you can use this method to align the video in the middle.
- Open your theme customizer
- Add this CSS under Appearance -> Customize > Additional CSS
Frequently Asked Questions[FAQ]
Can I automatically play videos on mobile devices?
No. Video autoplay is disabled by default on iOS and android devices. This is to make sure that no data is loaded until the user initiates it. There is nothing you can do as this is how it was designed by the hardware manufacturer. You can even try embedding a video without using this plugin and the autoplay feature wont still work.
Can I upload videos on WordPress using this plugin?
There is no uploader in the plugin. You can either use the media uploader in WordPress or connect to your website via FTP to upload videos.
How do I show videos on WordPress using this plugin?
Insert the video shortcode into a post/page and replace the value of the url parameter with the actual URL of your video.
What is the best video format for WordPress?
If you wish to host the video files on a server, MP4 is the way to go. Most devices and platforms support MP4 making it the most universal video format.
What is the best video encoder?
If wish to use a free encoder handbrake can be a great choice.
How do I upload a large video to WordPress?
You can either increase your maximum file upload size or connect to your website via FTP and directly upload the video.