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. The Video block is only supported on sites with a Jetpack Premium or Professional plan.

Requirements

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

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

Adding the Video block

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

See Jetpack Blocks for detailed instructions on adding blocks.

Adding a Video

When you add a video block you will be prompted with three options to add your content, Upload, Media Library, and Insert from URL.

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

Media Library lets you select a file that’s already been uploaded to your site’s Media Library.

If you insert a URL from a supported block type, such as YouTube, the video block will automatically transform into a YouTube block.

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

Block Toolbar

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.

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.

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.

Troubleshooting

Add any known troubleshooting steps or likely FAQs, then…

If you’re having any trouble with the Video block, please contact support for help.

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 → Settings → Performance in your dashboard.

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