Video Prep

You have two options when it comes to adding video to your website:

Option 1 (Vimeo): "I don't want to fuss with encoding my videos for streaming online."

No problem. Go get yourself a Vimeo account (pro account if you want to more control) and upload them there. Leave the encoding to Vimeo. Here's how you embed Vimeo videos on your site:

1.) Go to your Vimeo page. Make sure the settings for your video allow it to be viewed by the public or set up so that it will only play on your domain name.

2.) Copy the numerical ID number that you see after the "https://vimeo.com/" in your address bar of your browser (it's different for each Vimeo video you have)

3.) Login to your APhotoFolio account and click MEDIA LIBRARY

4.) Click (+ VIMEO) and give your Vimeo video a "Title". Then paste the numerical ID # that you copied, into the "VIMEO ID" field.

5.) In the "Custom Thumb" field, click the (+ ADD) button to upload a .jpg image as the placeholder thumbnail for the vimeo video. (we recommend uploading custom thumbnail images that are 1860 x 1140 pixels in .JPG format)

6.) Click OK to save the new video addition to your MEDIA LIBRARY and repeat the process for any additional videos you have.

7.) Drag-and-drop the video to assign it to a menu title in your WEBSITE MENU column, just like you would with any images.

Option 2 (mp4): "I want to encode them myself for online streaming. I want to control all the settings."

Awesome. Are you sure? Encoding for streaming is not the same as playing a video on your desktop. If your answer is yes, well that's great, here are some tips:

First, get your hands on Adobe Premiere Pro, Handbrake, or whatever video editing software you prefer. Handbrake is an easy and free way to process videos. 

If you are using Handbrake, simply select one of their "Web" presets and select Start: 

After encoding the video, make sure you take note of the final video file size. We suggest keeping your videos under 200MB. The smaller the file, the faster the video will load, the larger the file, the slower it will load. Of course, it all depends on the viewer's connection speed.

If you prefer to encode with other software, we suggest:

• Advanced Video Coding H.264 - only mp4 is accepted by all browsers and devices. 
• 1280×720 pixels (720p) or 1920×1080 pixels (1080p)
• Video Bitrate: 3500 kbps
• AAC (CoreAudio), Stereo
• If your video software offers an option for something like "Web Optimized", "Enable Streaming", or "Optimize for server" - activate those options. 
• File sizes under 200MB