If you want to add videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or another video platform to your WordPress site, you can copy and paste the embed code and customize it to suit your needs. However, that is not the most efficient way to do it. If you want to save time and have more advanced features, such as video galleries or lightboxes, you are going to need to install a WordPress video plugin.
In this article, we will share the 8 best WordPress plugins for video so that you can quickly and easily customize the way your videos are displayed on your website.
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1. Envira Gallery
Envira Gallery is the best WordPress gallery plugin with video capability.
It comes with a Videos Addon that allows you to create galleries from your YouTube, Wistia, and self-hosted WordPress videos. It includes lots of advanced options, including displaying the videos in galleries, open them in lightbox, and more.
Simply drag and drop the widget into any widget ready area to display a gallery there, or you can use the shortcode to display videos wherever you want.
Cost: Free and premium licenses available. Premium licenses start at $19.
2. YouTube Showcase
YouTube Showcase is a simple to use YouTube plugin for WordPress that creates custom post types for videos.
You can easily add categories and tags to your videos and make certain videos “featured.†It will even set up a video gallery page for you upon installation.
Cost: Free and pro versions available. Pro starts at $49.99.
3. YouTube Simple Gallery
YouTube Simple Gallery allows you to use custom post types to add videos and categorize them. It also comes with a shortcode that you can put anywhere in the post editor screen to insert your YouTube galleries.
It opens videos in a lightbox popup. You can also customize the video and thumbnail size.
Cost: Free
4. WordPress Video Gallery
WordPress Video Gallery has advanced features and a built-in HD .flv player for displaying your videos with HD quality. You can also display recent videos, popular videos and featured videos.
It includes customized skins and plenty of other customization options, making this a very versatile plugin.
Cost: Free
5. YourChannel: YouTube Channel on Your Website
YourChannel is perfect if you manage a YouTube channel or if you like curating videos.
With this plugin, you can turn your website into a video platform without needing any extra storage or bandwidth, because your visitors can watch your YouTube channel without ever having to leave your website.
Cost: Free
6. uTubeVideo Gallery
uTubeVideo Gallery allows you to display your YouTube video galleries on any post or page of your website.
This plugin also automatically fetches thumbnails for your videos and caches them on your WordPress site so that your page loads quicker.
7. Workbox Video from Vimeo & YouTube Plugin
Workbox Video from Vimeo & YouTube Plugin allows you to create a video gallery on any page simply by pasting the video URL. It works with YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia.
You can sort the order of your videos any way you want, and you can display your galleries anywhere you want by using shortcodes. (Note that this plugin is designed for more advanced users.)
Cost: Free
8. Ultimate Video Gallery
Ultimate Video Gallery adds galleries to your WordPress site quickly and easily; all you have to do is copy and paste the video URL and it will automatically fetch the details from YouTube.
You can create multiple, unlimited galleries with this plugin. It also includes support for mobile devices.
Cost: Free
Conclusion
There is a much better way to add videos to your site other than copying and pasting the embed code. These WordPress plugins allow you to efficiently add video galleries to your site, with tons of customization options, without touching a single line of code. Choose one of the above that suits your particular needs, and you’ll see what a big difference it makes.
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Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With over 10 years of experience, he’s the leading WordPress expert in the industry. You can learn more about Syed and his portfolio of companies by following him on his social media networks.
Thanks, for a great article, Syed! I’ve been ‘thinking’ too long about adding video and needed just this kind of ‘kick in the pants’ to get down to doing it. I’ll begin checking these out and making a selection. No more thinking about moving to the ‘new’ until it has become old news for me.