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. It’s 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. That’s why they use WordPress. So it will be really good to have a solution that requires fewer steps to follow and meets user’s 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.
Features
- Easy WordPress video plugin
- Embed videos using simple shortcodes (no coding required)
- Play videos using HTML5
- Enable automatic fallback for browsers that don’t 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
- Login to your Admin Dashboard and go to “Plugins->Add New Plugin”
- Search for “easy video player naa986”
- Install and Activate the plugin.
Now go to the Settings menu of the plugin (Settings->Easy Video Player) and check the “Enable jQuery” option. That’s 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:
[evp_embed_video url="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4"]
Now replace the URL parameter with the actual URL of your video.
That’s 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="http://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="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" width="640"]
Control Player Aspect Ratio
To override the default aspect ratio, you can specify a different one:
[evp_embed_video url="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" ratio="16:9"]
The player will load with the default aspect ratio if the one specified in the shortcode is not supported.
Poster Image
You can specify a poster image for your video by adding the “poster” parameter in the shortcode:
[evp_embed_video url="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" poster="http://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="http://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="http://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="http://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="http://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="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" template="mediaelement"]
Video Preload
By default, the mediaelement template only renders the 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
[evp_embed_video url="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/vid1.mp4" preload="auto" template="mediaelement"]
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”
.wp-video {
text-align: center;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
Easy Video Player Add-ons
Easy Video Player plugin comes with various add-ons that you can use to enhance its functionality on your website.
MediaElement Skin 1
When this add-on is active, a clean player (using the mediaelement template) will load without a controlbar background.
Note:
* Do not purchase before setting up the core plugin first. The add-on is not at fault if the core plugin does not work on your website.
* Do not purchase if you are not sure about a feature, contact us instead.
* Do not purchase to ask for more features or make the product work in a certain way.
* Do not try to scam us, we take it seriously. We are contributing to the WordPress community with free plugins and themes. If you cannot appreciate this our product is not the right choice for you.
* There is no refund/cancellation as it is a digital product.
User Only Videos
User Only Videos add-on lets you restrict videos to WordPress users or users with specific roles. This is great for creating a video membership site.
Video Schema
Video Schema add-on lets you add structured/schema data for your videos. This helps search engines discover and index your videos.
Disable Right Click
Disable Right Click add-on prevents viewers from right-clicking and saving your videos.
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 won’t 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.
Technical Support
Note:
* We will try our best to resolve the issue. But there is no refund/cancellation whether or not the issue is resolved.
How can I set it up so users can upload videos?
@Nikhita, That’s not possible with this plugin.
Hi, love the plugin but i cant seem to get the video to loop or autoplay.
I have included the codes as suggested and placed the video in as text in the block of the page but it wont automatically start or loop. Below is the code I used.
[evp_embed_video url="https://www.lakeedgeresort.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LER2023.mp4" loop="true" autoplay="true"]@Paul, There was an extra space in your shortcode before the loop parameter. Please try the updated shortcode.
Thank you, i have made the change with this as the code, can you confirm this is correct as I still think it isnt autoplaying.
[evp_embed_video url="https://www.lakeedgeresort.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LER2023.mp4" loop="true" autoplay="true"]Thank you in advance.
Paul
@Paul, The code looks correct. The browser could prevent automatic playback because of the loop option. Have you tried the mute parameter? For example:
[evp_embed_video url="https://www.lakeedgeresort.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LER2023.mp4" loop="true" autoplay="true" muted="true"]I will try the code you sent, but when i press play the video does loop ok but doesnt autoplay.
In the meantime i will try the code you suggested.
TIA
@Paul, It’s a browser thing. Like mobile devices, most modern browsers now prevent automatic playback unless the video is muted.
You can copy the shortcode into a plain text editor (e.g. notepad) first to remove formatting.
Thank you so much for all your effort on this… The video still wont load automatically on all three browsers, Safari – Edge and Chrome.. doesnt matter just would have been nice to have it start automatically…
Thank you again……
Thank you I tried the code you suggested and it wouldn’t load at all, black screen only.
I will continue with the other original code and see how that goes.
Paul
Hi
I am trying to mute the video, but it does not work. I have used the following:
…………. Resorts.mp4″muted=” true”]. The video is showing fine but the mute does not work. I have tried with and without a gap in front of muted=”true”. Can you help to fix this?
Thanks
Jak
Bonjour,
J’ai installé le plugin sur mon site wordpress, j’ai bien suivi les indications.
[evp_embed_video url="https://www.nature-et-horizons.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PXL_20230813_110929849.TS_.mp4" autoplay="true"].Malheureusement la vidéo ne se lance pas … merci pour votre aide.
Jean-Luc
@Jean, Is this an audio file?
How to add my logo in video and set opacity for that?
Can it embed a youtube video??
@Steve, Unfortunately no.
is there a problem if the video name content space ie video 1.mp4
[evp_embed_video url="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/video 1.mp4" preload="auto" template="mediaelement"]?@Sajan, Yes, It will make the URL invalid. Try renaming the video file to “video-1.mp4” or “video_1.mp4” and see how it goes.
Can I add speed control to the plugin?
Can I incorporate the button to activate subtitles? If yes, how?
Hi! This is a great video embed plugin so far. I only have one question, is there a way to disable the controls completely? That’s the ONLY thing I can’t seem to figure out.
@Tim, Have you tried controls=””?
The autoplay functions does not work. Do you know what it could be?
@Atanas, The attribute is correctly present in your video. It’s likely the browser is blocking it. Have you tried the “muted” parameter?
Hello how can i add VAST ad tag to in stream video.
Hi,
Do you have the close captions option?
Thank you.
Hello Team,
If I am using all the parameters like below
[evp_embed_video url="video.mp4" poster="TN.webp" autoplay="true" loop="true" muted="true" preload="auto" controls="false"]I don’t want to show controls to user, could you Please suggest me code for this
@Venu, Have you tried
controls=""? Please make sure that there are no special characters when inserting the shortcode. You can copy it into a plain text editor (e.g. notepad) and make the changes.I am replacing an imbedded video with an updated one. The old video works fine. I put the new one in the same folder as the old and I can not get it to play. I downloaded the new video from the site just to make sure that it didn’t get corrupted in the upload. Not the problem. The only difference that I can tell is that the old video is 65.86mb and the new one is 167.78mb. Any ideas on what could be wrong?
WORKING VIDEO
[evp_embed_video url="https://bullitt.kysheriff.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/30 second 1.mp4"]NOT WORKING VIDEO
[evp_embed_video url="https://bullitt.kysheriff.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/lateral06032024.mp4"]@Randy, If you open the URL in your browser you will see a 404 page.
I do see that. OK. Back to the drawing board. Thanks
Hi , can I embed YouTube video URL using this shortcode ?
[evp_embed_video url="https://youtu.be/EpoA4m3mkuI?si=Id1951f_HQYfvahU" autoplay="true"]@Alish, This plugin is only for embedding MP4 videos.
hi , how we can customize the colors of video player?
is it possible to have video with autoplay and sound onloading?
is there any option to control playback speed of the video?