Add video, audio, or images to a classic page
Applies ToSharePoint Server 2016 SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise SharePoint in Microsoft 365 SharePoint Foundation 2013 SharePoint Server 2010

You can add media (such as video, audio, or an image) to a classic SharePoint page. The media file can come from your computer, from SharePoint, or from another location such as a file share. You can embed a video from a video sharing website such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Hulu.

Warning: If you upload an audio file in the .WAV format, you might see a message that is not correct for most browsers. The message states, ”the Media Player Web Part cannot play files in this format.” This is incorrect for all supported browsers except Chrome. Ignore the message, and continue to upload your file.

Important: You must have permission to edit pages to follow this procedure.

Insert video into a classic SharePoint, 2016, or 2013 page

  1. Go to the page where you want to add media.

  2. Select the Page tab. Then, on the ribbon, click Edit.

  3. Click inside an editable area on the page.

  4. Choose the Insert tab, and in the Media group on the ribbon, click Video and Audio.

    Insert Video or audio button in the edit ribbon

  5. You'll see the following options:

    • From Computer

    • Embed

    • From SharePoint

    • From Address

    For information about how to insert media with one of these options, click one of the following links.

To upload a file from your computer, follow these steps.

  1. Click From Computer.

  2. Browse to the location of the file that you want, select the file and then click Open.

  3. Specify a destination library where you want to store the file. We recommend that you specify an Asset Library as the destination. An Asset Library is designed especially for media, and automatically includes features such as image preview and thumbnails for videos. These features make it easier for you to work with your media files. To learn how to set up an Asset Library for media files, see Set up an Asset library to store image, audio, or video files.

  4. Click OK.

To embed a video from a video-sharing website such as YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, or similar sites, follow these basic steps.

On the Video site do this:

  1. Bring up the video you want to use.

  2. Find and click Share for the video.

  3. Depending on the site, you might have to click on an Embed link, or it might be right there. Click the embed code and press CTRL+C to copy, or right click and click Copy from the context menu.

Security Note: For security reasons, SharePoint supports only embed code with an <iframe> tag.

On your SharePoint site do this:

  1. Click Embed.

  2. Then, paste the embed code in the dialog box.

    Screenshot of <iframe> embed code for a video that was copied from a video sharing site. The embed code is fictional.

    Tip: Typically, it is easy to get the embed code for a video from popular video sharing sites. Just look for an Embed or Share option and then follow the onscreen instructions to display the embed code. When the embed code appears, copy it and then paste the code as shown in the preceding picture.

  3. Click Insert.

To add a video from a location on a SharePoint site, follow these steps.

  1. Click From SharePoint. This opens the Asset Picker, which you can browse for the folder or library that you want.

  2. Browse to a location on your site, such as an Assets Library, where video and audio files are saved.

  3. Select the file that you want, and then click Insert.

To add a video from another location on the web, follow these steps.

  1. Click From Address.

  2. Type the URL for the file that you want to use, and then click OK. The URL must point directly to a video file. For example: http://contoso.com/VideoFile.wmv.

When you add video or audio to a page, SharePoint inserts a Media Web Part. After you add the media, you can customize the Web Part. For example, you might want to change its size or location, edit the title, or add a catalog logo.

Whenever you add a video to a page, make sure to include captions and audio descriptions of the content. Captions let hearing-impaired users learn about the content, and they provide assistance to non-native speakers who watch the video.

If you want to change the Media Web Part on a page, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the page that contains the video.

  2. Select the Page tab, and then click Edit.

  3. When the video appears on the page, click anywhere on the video image to open the Media tab and its ribbon.

    Media tab on edit ribbon

  4. On the ribbon, in the Preview group, point to Change Image and select the image file that you want displayed as a preview for the audio or video file. If you do not update the preview image, the default image for the file type is displayed.

  5. In the Properties group, you can enter or change the title that appears. You can also specify whether you want the file to play automatically when the page is loaded, or if it should loop until stopped.

  6. In the Player Styles group on the ribbon, point to Styles and select the style that you prefer for the player.

  7. In the Size group on the ribbon, you can also choose to specify any changes that you want to make to the Horizontal and Vertical size of the player.

  8. To edit the Media Web Part, hover the mouse on the media title and then click the arrow that is displayed to open the Media Web Part Menu.

    Web Part Menu to select Edit Web Part

  9. Choose Edit Web Part to open the edit window on the side of the screen.

  10. In the Web Part edit panel, choose the properties that you want to change. When you finish making changes, click Apply.

    Screenshot of the Media Web Part edit panel, showing some of the properties that you can configure

  11. Click OK to close the edit window and return to the page.

  12. When you finish making changes to the page, select the Page tab, and then click Save. If the page is checked out to you, you see a warning message together with a link so you can check it in.

Here's how to place a much smaller, slimmer control bar into a webpage. This control bar works best for audio files, like podcasts, in which the full media web part would be too large.

  1. Upload the audio file and transcript file into your Site assets folder.

    1. To open the Settings menu, in the upper-right corner, select Settings .

    2. Select the Site Contents link.

    3. Go to the Site Assets folder.

    4. Drag the audio and transcript file into the folder.

    5. Get the URLs for the files. To open the file action menu, next to the file name, select the ellipsis. Copy and paste the link from the action menu to another file. You will need this link later, in the audio embed code.

  2. To open the Editing ribbon and to enter Edit mode, on the page where you want to display the video, select the Edit link.

  3. Place the focus where you want the video to appear.

  4. To open the Embed dialog box, from the Insert tab, open the Video and Audio group and select Embed.

    Screenshot of  the Embed dialog in SharePoint Online to paste script or embed code for video or audio files and then insert the code.
  5. Paste the embed code into the field, with the URL of your audio file after “src=” and between the quotation marks.

    <audio src="your-audio-file-URL-here.mp3"controls="controls"></audio>

    This code places the media control bar on the page. The bar lets users start and stop the playback.

    Tip: If your embed code is not formatted correctly or if it points to a file location that does not exist, the Insert button will not be active.

  6. When you are done, select Insert to put your audio control on the page. The embedded audio control looks like this:

    Screenshot of SharePoint Online with the Snippet audio control bar showing the total length of time of an audio file and provides the control to start and stop play of the file.
  7. Place the focus at the end of the audio control snippet and to go to the next line, press Enter.

  8. Insert a link to your audio transcript file.

    1. To open the Select an Asset dialog box, from the Insert tab, select Link and From SharePoint.

    2. Select your audio transcript file, and press Insert. This inserts a hyperlink with the name of the file as the text of the link.

    3. Place the focus in the link, just before the last character of the file name. Slowly backspace to remove all but the first and last characters in the file name.

      Tip: This leaves the link intact and keeps your cursor exactly where it needs to be so that you can change the text of the link.

    4. Type the text that you want for the link. For example, for an audio transcript, type View the audio transcript.

    5. Delete the remaining characters of the file name.

  9. When you're done, to save all your changes, at the top of the page, click Save.

If you're using SharePoint Classic, you can add Office 365 Video or Microsoft Stream to your page. See Embed a video from Microsoft 365 Video or Use the Stream web part.

When using photos, images, clip art, or audio, you're responsible for respecting copyright.

  1. To open the Editing ribbon and to enter Edit mode, on the page you want to edit, select the Edit link.

  2. Place the focus where you want the picture to appear.

  3. To open the Upload Image dialog box, from the Insert tab, open the Picture group and select From Computer.

    Screenshot of the SharePoint Online ribbon. Select the Insert tab and then select Picture to choose whether to upload a file from your computer, a web address, or a SharePoint location.

    Tip: To insert a picture from the Internet by pasting in an image URL, select From Address. To insert an image from your SharePoint site, select From SharePoint.

  4. Choose your file, select a destination folder in your SharePoint site (the default choice is the Site Assets folder), and include any notes about the different image version.

  5. To insert your picture and activate the Image tab, select OK.

    Screenshot shows a section of the SharePoint Online ribbon with the Image tab selected and the selections available in the Select, Properties, Styles, Arrange, Size, and Spacing groups.

    Tip: The Image tab is only visible when an image is selected.

  6. Move to the Alt Text box on the Image tab, and enter your alternative text for the image.

  7. When you finish, click Save.

Accessibility tips   

  • Alt text should be brief but descriptive.

  • Good alt text tells the listener why the picture is important.

For more information about alt text, including examples and links to more information, visit the WebAIM Alternative Text page.

Supported Video Formats

The Media Web Part uses HTML5 video and supports .asf, .avi, .mpg, .mp3, .mp4, .ogg, .ogv, .webm, .wma, and .wmv video formats.

The classic Silverlight Media Web Part supports .asf, .mp3, .mp4, .wma, and .wmv.

Note: While all the above formats are supported, not all of them are accessible out of the box (for example, .wmv). Please use the .mp4 format for the most accessible solution.

Need more help?

Want more options?

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.