4 Great WordPress Plugins to Embed Videos in 2019

WordPress has its own default video embed feature which was added to it from WordPress 3.6. You can directly paste the video code from any platform into the post/page editor or use the media library to display video in WordPress.

Often times, however, the default WordPress method of embedding videos is inadequate. If you need more control, especially with Youtube videos where you wish to selectively disable certain video player features, you will need a video plugin for that.

In this article, we bring you 4 great WordPress plugins to embed and customize videos in 2018/2019.

Also Read: How to choose the best WordPress theme for your blog

1. Shortcodes Ultimate

If you are a shortcode lover and wish to use shortcodes for embedding videos, then the free Shortcodes Ultimate plugin is probably our best choice for doing so. It works especially well with Vimeo and Youtube videos, letting you selectively disable certain video features easily, such as “suggested videos”, “modest branding”, “show video controls”, and more.

On my site, I use Shortcodes Ultimate to do a plethora of things, from showing youtube videos, formatting content into multiple columns, to adding icon fonts with ease. See my sit stand chairs guide for examples of all of these shortcodes in action.

Apart from video embedding, the plugin allows WordPress users to perform a series of other functions using its 50+ shortcodes.

Pros:

• Easy and fast integration once you are used to shortcodes.
• Unique shortcode for popular video sites Youtube, Vimeo, Screenr and Dailymotion.
• Along with video and audio embedding, you can also add many advanced and useful features to your website using just a few lines of shortcodes.

Cons :

• For first-time users, shortcodes can be strange and confusing texts.
• Once you use any of its shortcodes, you are stuck with the plugin forever. If you uninstall the plugin, any feature you added using its shortcode will not work.
• Too many shortcodes can slow down your page load speed.

2. Video Embed & Thumbnail Generator

This is another great plugin for embedding videos and generating thumbnails. The highlight feature of this plugin is its ability to generate thumbnails of videos you upload to the media library. This speeds up your page as the thumbnail is shown initially, and not the video player. The thumbnail feature, unfortunately, doesn’t work with Youtube video embeds.

The plugin is also a video encoder which means you can create additional video formats.

Pros:

• The excellent videos.js player is included in the plugin to show your videos in an attractive interface. You also have the option to use the default WordPress video player and a few other video players.
• The videos embedded with the plugin are 100% responsive.
• The plugin gives you a useful feature to select a thumbnail from the video. You can also generate your own thumbnail from the video.
• You can add subtitle and caption track in the videos.

Cons:

• Generate thumbnail feature doesn’t work with Youtube videos.

3. Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery is a feature-rich WordPress plugin for easily adding video galleries to your site. Using its drag and drop builder plus pre-built gallery templates, you can quickly pick, upload, and deploy an entire video gallery in a few minutes. The slideshow and fullscreen mode are great for showing both your images and videos in an immersive, lightbox format.

Pros:

• Powerful and user-friendly drag and drop builder to build galleries.
• Many cool features like social media integration, eCommerce support, watermark protection etc.
• Slideshow and fullscreen mode for images and videos.

Cons:

• This is a premium plugin so you have to pay minimum $29 to use it.
• Overkill for adding single videos to a post, as this is a video gallery plugin.

4. Spider Video Player

Spider Video Player is another good plugin to add videos to your website. It provides tons of customization options which mainly include changing the layout of the player and adjusting its position and size. You can also add watermark to your videos using the plugin. The spider video player also comes with social media integration and support for HD videos.

Pros:

• Using this plugin, organizing videos is easier with different themes and playlist.
• Complete control over the look of your video player. You can adjust the player with your theme by changing its colors, size, and position of your player

Cons:

• No widget support.

Conclusion:

All of these WordPress plugins provide efficient ways for adding videos or videos gallery. Select the plugin that suits your interest and experience the difference it makes to your videos embedding process.

Author Credits:

This is a guest blog post written by Jon Muller, founder of Ergonomic Trends where he blogs about office productivity, health, and ergonomics.