Set up a Video Blog (or How to Add Flash Video to Your WordPress Site)

By Michael Pollock in Tutorials, WordPress

So you want to create the next Rocketboom (video blog). Or perhaps you have some video you want to add to your WordPress blog or website. Maybe it’s a video of last year’s Christmas party, a business conference you attended or the kids’ soccer game.

Maybe you have a business site and want to provide some video for customers and/or potential customers. For example, when I designed a site for Hi-Way Campers, an RV dealer, I included video walk-through tours of some of the RVs for folks who started their RV shopping online (see an example here). Website video would also be great for restaurants, conference facilities, hotels, resorts, real estate brokers or anyone with a product people need to see.

Whatever your reason for wanting to add video to your site, it’s pretty easy with WordPress and a couple of other tools. Before anyone else mentions it, let me say at the outset that sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video and the like also make it pretty easy to upload and share video. If, however, you’re a tad paranoid like me and you’d rather not rely on another service (who may insert ads into your video at some point) to help you share your video with the world, this tutorial is for you.

Step One: Gather Your Tools

1. A WordPress Blog/Site - Okay, so you probably already have this part covered. If not, this tutorial will show you how to download and install WordPress on your own server.

2. Download, install and activate the WP-FLV Plugin - This is an excellent little plugin created by Roel Meurders. It greatly simplifies the task of inserting flash video into your WordPress site.

Download the wp-flv.txt file from Roel’s site and change the file name to wp-flv.php. Next you’ll need to open your favorite FTP program and add the wp-flv.php file to your wp-content/plugins directory. Finally, visit the Plugin managment page on your WordPress site, and activate the WP-FLV plugin.

3. Download and install a free Flash video player. If people are going watch videos on your site, you’ll need to embed a Flash video player for them to use (don’t worry, it’s not as difficult as it may sound).

As a brief side note before we go further, the other way to distribute video is via download. In other words, you could simply link to the video file in your blog post, and allow folks to download the file to their own computer. A true video blog also distributes video via RSS feed. In that case folks use a piece of software called a podcatcher to receive new videos. The podcatcher software (e.g. iTunes, Juice, Newsgator, etc) automatically detects and downloads new videos for its user. This particular tutorial is geared more toward what’s known as “streaming video,” in which case someone visits your site and watches the video while there. So let’s move on.

Visit Jeroen Wijering’s site, and download his Flash Video Player 2.4. The player downloads as a zip file, so you’ll need to use your favorite unzip program to unzip it. If you don’t have an unzip feature already installed on your computer, you can download a free program called Stuffit Expander (for PC or Mac). After you unzip the file, you’ll end up with a folder named: flash_flv_player.

Next, you’ll need to upload the Flash player to your website. The actual file name you’re looking for is flvplayer.swf. You’ll find it in the unzipped flash_flv_player folder. Again, FTP that file over to your website. I strongly suggest you create a folder named “videos” within your main WordPress folder, and copy the flvplayer.swf file into that folder. This is also the folder into which you’ll need to place your video files once you have them ready (more on that later). If the video files and video player are not in the same folder/directory, this won’t work.

Step Two: Create Your Video

Now that you have everything in place to play videos from your WordPress site, the next thing to do is actually create and publish your videos. Again, you’ll need some tools for this part as well. Before we get to that, however, lets talk about file formats.

The Flash Video Player you just installed will only play Flash Videos, which have a file name that looks like this: filename.flv (notice the .flv file extension). If your digital video camera is anything like mine, it will probably create video files in what’s known as Quicktime format. Quicktime files have the file extension .mov. So you’ll have to convert those files to the .flv format. Again, this is much easier than it sounds, and that brings us to the next free tool you’ll need.

1. Download the free Riva FLV Encoder. This is a cool little program that will convert various file types (e.g. .mov, .avi, mp4) into the .flv format. You can download the program here.

The Riva Encoder is pretty intuitive to use. There’s a box for you to enter the file you want to convert, and there’s the “Encode” button (click the graphic to the right for a larger view). On the right, you can set some of the parameters for the output video, such as size and quality. I use a file size 320×240, but you can decide what size you prefer. As for teh other parameters, I simply use the default settings, but again, you may want to experiment with different ones. After you’ve converted your video to the .flv format, you simply need to FTP it into the same folder/directory where your Flash video player is installed (see above).

We’re in the home stretch. Just one more step.

Step Three: Publish Your Video

Again this part is pretty easy. It’s as simple as writing a new post on your WordPress site. In fact, that’s all it is … with one little twist. Before we get to that, however, you need to set the correct parameters for the WP-FLV plugin we installed up in step one.

So, login to your WordPress site, and click on the Options tab. In the submenu, you’ll see a tab that says “WP-FLV.” Click on it. In the top box, you need to tell WordPress where the Flash video player is located. If you followed my directions above, all you need to enter in this first box is: http://www.yourwordpresssite.com/video/flvplayer.swf (just change the “yourwordpresssite.com” portion to whatever your is).

Click the graphic to the right, and you’ll see the other settings you need to set. In the “Default movie size” box, make sure you use the same size you used when you converted your videos with the Riva Encoder above. After you enter your setting, click the “Update Options” at the bottom.

There’s one more thing to take care of before you publish your first video. The WP-FLV plugin only works if you’re NOT using the WordPress WYSIWYG or “Rich Text” editor. So, click on the Users tab from the top menu. At the bottom left of your profile, you’ll see a checkbox with the phrase “Use the visual rich editor when writing” next to it. Make sure this box IS NOT checked. If it is, uncheck it, and click the “Update Options” button. After that, you’re ready to publish your first video.

Click on the Write tab from the main menu to create a new post. Just above the Post box, you’ll see a quicktag that says “FLV.” Click that button. This will open a new box that asks you for the file name of your video. It will probably already have “/video” in the box, so all you have to do is add the video’s file name after so it’ll end up like this /video/filename.flv.

The next series of boxes that come up should be filled in by default. The final box will ask “Do you want this video to start playing automatically?” Just click the cancel button because you DON’T want the video to start playing automatically (there’s nothing more annoying than going to a site and immediately some strange video starts playing in your face).

After you click the cancel button, you’ll end up with something in your post box that looks like this: [flv href="/video/filename.flv" width="320" height="240" autostart="false" /]. If you want to also write some commentary on the video, you can do that as well. If not, just click the publish button, and you’re all done.

And that’s it. You now have a video blog (minus the RSS video distribution). If you do use this tutorial to add video to your site, I’d love to hear your feedback, and see your site, so please shoot me an email or leave a comment on this post. Likewise, if you have troubles, share those as well, and I’ll try to help you get them sorted out. Happy Vlogging!

85 Comment(s)

On Aug 6, 2006, Thom said:

Thanks for the tips. I followed the instructions, and viola! I am able to add some videos to my family blog. See them here.
On Aug 7, 2006, Michael said:

Sweet! Looks great, Thom. Thanks for the note.
On Aug 7, 2006, Nadir said:

Well you could use the “blog this” function of dailymotion (http://www.dailymotion.com) too…
That’s a bit simplier. They use wordpress API (but also blogger, movable type and many others). They host the video, encode it for free and you can blog in a matter of minutes.
On Aug 12, 2006, Lyndon Antcliff said:

I think video blogging is going to be a part of future, but not the whole future. Text is still going to the main way of communicating and pure audio has it’s place.

It’s amazing the number of people who listen to podcasts whilst excercising. You can’t do that yet with video or text.

Lets wait for the chip implant that delivers video blogging direct to the brain.
On Aug 14, 2006, Michael said:

completely agree. and well said, lyndon. i think that why it’s important for small biz people to create text and audio. video too, but not as much.

best - mp
On Aug 14, 2006, Daniel Gardner said:

Michael,

I searched all over the internet for a tutorial like this - and finally found it here. Thank you SO much.

Daniel
On Aug 15, 2006, Tim Hyde said:

Thanks for this. It saved me a lot of hours hunting down a solution myself.
On Aug 16, 2006, Rob Taylor said:

Thanks for that Michael. Been searching all over the place for a really easy paint-by-numbers explanation of how to use the WP-FLV plugin. Really clear instructions and what’s better… it worked!
On Aug 18, 2006, Christian said:

Thanks for a great tutorial, a really big help!
On Aug 29, 2006, Mark said:

I just used Roel Meurders’ plug-in for the first time the other day and I love it. Thanks for the other tips too.
On Aug 29, 2006, Dylan Drummond said:

After hours of wanting to break things - this tutorial, cleanly and simply helped me go through the steps for this great plug in(s).

Thanks you very much.
On Aug 30, 2006, Brenda said:

Great tutorial. Rather than using the Riva Encoder, I used Macromedia Flash 8 Video Encoder. Worked like a charm! Thanks for your help.
On Sep 3, 2006, Steve Shapiro said:

I searched all day for a solution that worked in WordPress. I tried about 6 other different flv players, and plug-ins, with no luck. This worked. Thanks!
On Sep 14, 2006, Jono Cono said:

Wow, what an awesome tutorial this is. Happily it was the first one I came across and attempted. This wonderfully written tutorial neatly and simply compiles all the necessary information to get streaming video implemented on my blog. Thank you so much for putting together and sharing this information, it’s greatly appreciated!
On Sep 17, 2006, BitFlicks said:

Hi Michael, thanks alot for this tutorial, I was up and running in no time at all. http://www.bitflicks.com is the site if you’d like to have a look.

Thanks again.
On Sep 18, 2006, Alex said:

Nice tutorial! I plan on giving it a try when I get home today. Thanks!
On Sep 19, 2006, no0ne said:

if i want the flv player in my template sidebar under categories ?
On Oct 18, 2006, Michael said:

You say: “If the video files and video player are not in the same folder/directory, this won’t work.” Do you mean, this method will not work at all? Because it sounds like you identify the file during the blog posting process. Would it not be possible to just enter the full path or URL to the Flash movie file? I’m hosting my video on a seperate site.
On Nov 6, 2006, Eric said:

Michael

There’s one more thing to take care of before you publish your first video. The WP-FLV plugin only works if you’re NOT using the WordPress WYSIWYG or “Rich Text” editor. So, click on the Users tab from the top menu.

At the bottom left of your profile, you’ll see a checkbox with the phrase “Use the visual rich editor when writing” next to it.

Make sure this box IS NOT checked. If it is, uncheck it, and click the “Update Options” button. After that, you’re ready to publish your first video.

I’m using wordpress 1.5.2 and I don’t see this option.

Is this why my video does display I wonder.
On Dec 6, 2006, John Edwards said:

Thanks for the great tutorial. I have also been looking for a solution for streaming flash videos on my blog that wouldn’t be dependant on YouTube or Google Video.

My only gripe is that I prefer to use the WYSIWYG editor (even though it is primitive and often results in broken code). It’s just easier and faster to type. I guess I can just turn it off when I want to write a streaming video article. Hopefully an update to the plugin will correct this issue.

Thanks again for the help!
On Dec 27, 2006, Alex said:

This worked like a charm! I’m using it on my family website. Thanks a lot.
On Jan 9, 2007, Martyn said:

The FLV plugin messes up the formatting of WordPress 2.0.5 when viewed in Firefox 2.0.0.1 on both the Mac and PC. It displays fine in Safari (Mac) IE 6 (PC) and Firefox 1.5 (PC). After using the the plugin I noticed the XHTML validator returns about 25 errors. Is there some way to fix this? I am using the standard default (Kubrick) theme.

http://clogs.spinifexinteractive.com/wordpress/
On Jan 25, 2007, Rockford IL Real Estate Agent said:

I struggled for 2 weeks trying to figure out how to add video to my WP blog. Thanks for the very helpful info. This is especially helpful for adding Youtube videos, thanks again.

Jeremy
On Feb 23, 2007, Jeff said:

Install seemed straitforward, but I only see the FLV tab in Write PAGE, not in Write POST. Any idea why? Thanks.
On Feb 25, 2007, Jeff said:

Answering my own question, the FLV appears in Write POST only after saving the post once. Might be a bug in the new version of WordPress, or a needed update in the plugins?
On Mar 7, 2007, Climbing said:

Good infos here. Thanks!
On Mar 17, 2007, Jürgen said:

Hey, thanks for this good informations about setting my video blog up. Great site. Jürgen :-)
On Mar 22, 2007, Phil Thomas Di Giulio said:

Great info Michael! We especially like the part about shooting video of ‘restaurants, conference facilities, hotels, resorts, real estate brokers or anyone with a product people need to see.’ We’re all about it actually. Check out http://www.WellcomeMat.com

WellcomeMat is a Real Estate Video based service built to help promote and market local business, real estate (All spaces), etc using video. You can upload a video and then embed your videos on blogs just like this one: http://www.2502nsheffield.com/2007/03/2502_n_sheffiel.html

Again, thanks for great info. We’re all the better for it.

- The Mat
On Mar 28, 2007, rostaman said:

I tried to get the FLV tab in the Post section (as described by a previous poster), but I still only see it in the Page section. I have the latest WP, Firefox, and IE, and I can’t get it to work! Please help!

rostaman
On Apr 21, 2007, marc said:

KeepV Flash Converter is a free and powerful utility software that converts Flash/FLV files - http://www.keepv.com/
On Apr 23, 2007, 干燥箱 said:

Answering my own question, the FLV appears in Write POST only after saving the post once. Might be a bug in the new version of WordPress, or a needed update in the plugins?
http://www.87917094.com/new/gfgzx.htm
good,very good
On Jun 3, 2007, walt said:

I seem to be having a bit of a problem. I am very much a newbie in all respects. I have attempted to follow to a t the specific instrutions. Whenever I “save” I only get a blank video format and when I place my pointer over the blank a gray outline appears and the message click to activate but nothing happens and no video appears at any time. I know this may be difficult to diagnose considering all of the many steps involved, but would you have any clue at all?? Thanks so much
On Jun 19, 2007, cam said:

This is really cool, but what I really want is to set up a blog/website (read: free) to host all the videos I edit and all that. Oh, ya, and I want it to be password protected as much as humanly possible…;)
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
On Jul 22, 2007, Miguel Lombana said:

WOW thanks for making it so easy for me to get video on my site, this has been a huge issue in the past and being so new at using WordPress (only 2 weeks) I’ve found that the community is so supporting and helpful in assisting other users to get their sites just right. I applaud you Mike and again many thanks!
On Jul 27, 2007, Kim said:

Hi
I appreciate the info and have followed it to a tee. I’m wondering, however, why there is no FLV above the “post” after I get to the post window?
On Jul 27, 2007, Kim said:

As someone postted above me FLv appears in the “write page” but not “Write post”, In my case saving first does not seem to make a difference.
On Jul 28, 2007, Kim said:

OK saving first does make a difference. Must be a bug. Anyway thanks for the info. The price is definately right.
On Jul 28, 2007, Nich said:

How can we play flv’s in full screen mode like the link below in wp?

Visit this link and click on “Click here to see an example”
You will see a flash video playing, with an option for full screen.

http://www.blog.lessrain.com/?p=491

Here is the original post

http://www.blog.lessrain.com/?p=434
On Jul 31, 2007, Pritesh Patel said:

Have you got any further info yet on why the WYSIWYG editor must be disabled? It seems like an unusual price to pay to enable video blogging.
On Sep 3, 2007, website design bolton said:

First article i’ve read on this issue and its solved my problem already. Thanks for that!
On Sep 23, 2007, Martin James said:

Hi,

Thanks so much, got some good tips.

Martin.
On Oct 27, 2007, Learn Affiliate Marketing said:

Thanks for the content. Vlogging is a powerful new tool to use which I am working on
On Oct 27, 2007, Adam said:

Superb article. Extremely helpful. Thanks!
On Oct 30, 2007, Marketing Videos said:

The information here is so wonderful.Thanks a lot.
On Nov 5, 2007, Shama Hyder said:

Thanks so much. I am stuck finding another flv converter. Riva doesn’t work with Windows Media 9 (the latest version).
On Nov 12, 2007, Mark said:

Could someone please let me know if there is a FLV player for Wordpress that has a “share this” copy & select box and a “download this video” link? (please email me if you could be so kind!)
On Nov 29, 2007, foysal said:

Can Anyone help me to trace the location of a file after browse from my pc.
On Dec 3, 2007, Work at home guide said:

Great tutorial. Great site. Really enjoyed reading the tutorial.

Keep up the good work.
On Dec 6, 2007, estetik said:

Thanks for tips. For a video blog I think the most important need is a powerful host with unlimited bandwidth to show the videos and mysql database, to create a wordpress web site.
On Dec 8, 2007, amore said:

You’re a genius man! Thanks for the great tutorial! It really works!
On Jan 16, 2008, Kris said:

Hey, thanks so much for taking time to write this easy to understand tutorial…it made it so easy to install a flash video on my customer’s WP site…thanks a million!
On Jan 25, 2008, prefabrik said:

thank you very much.
On Feb 1, 2008, bloger said:

i just used Roel Meurders’ plug-in for the first time the other day and I love it. thanx for the other tips too.
On Feb 2, 2008, U.Can said:

Thanks for the great tutorial! It really works!
On Feb 4, 2008, iyinet webmaster forumu 2008 seo yarismasi said:

completely agree. and well said, lyndon. i think that why it’s important for small biz people to create text and audio. video too, but not as much.
On Feb 4, 2008, Dizin Directory said:

thanks for this
On Feb 8, 2008, fitness said:

Nice tutorial! I plan on giving it a try when I get home today. Thanks!
On Mar 11, 2008, funnyvideo! said:

hello,

thanks for the tutorial!

it’s always nice to learn step-by-step from the expert (-;
On Mar 13, 2008, Jake Mogul said:

Hi,

This is a great tutorial and exactly what I’ve been looking for! Thanks a million!
On Mar 21, 2008, Benny Nardino said:

This is really a great blog with lots of info. I’ve added it to my stumbleupon link: http://siriusforex.stumbleupon.com/
On Apr 10, 2008, Jean said:

Thanks very much for this valuable info. Wanted to post some Easter videos, but it just didn’t work. Now I know how to include them in future postings.
On Apr 11, 2008, Kevin Rockwell said:

The age of online video is exploding now and there are some terrific advantages for web owners to use it for infomring their visitors and attracting visitors to their content. Not many know that it really can be a fun and easy process to create their video and upload to the net. Looking for step by step help?
On Jun 26, 2008, Tamer said:

thanks vEEEEry much!!
On Jun 28, 2008, akasya durağı said:

thanks
On Aug 19, 2008, Sean said:

Hey… Good walkthrough.

For WP 2.6.1 change line 198…

The first strpos statement needs to look for ‘post-new.php’ (instead of ‘post.php’).

Thanks…
On Sep 19, 2008, Matt said:

There are a bunch of themes around that have been specifically designed for video blogging.

http://www.videoblogthemes.com
On Sep 30, 2008, cocotu said:

not working for me. all i get is a blank screen that i can right click on it and will give me the flash options.
On Oct 12, 2008, pornografi said:

thanks a lot.
On Oct 18, 2008, youtube said:

Hey, thanks so much for taking time to write this easy to understand tutorial…it made it so easy to install a flash video on my customer’s WP site…thanks a million!
On Oct 19, 2008, oyun said:

Thanks for the content. Vlogging is a powerful new tool to use which I am working on
On Oct 20, 2008, Lisa said:

It a nice site collecting all info about Coupon.
I use to buy some of these coupon and i need this information.
Thanks for your time to post this article.
On Oct 22, 2008, Plastik cerrahi said:

What about tag pages? I’m finding that alot of my traffic is coming from tag pages. I didn’t see any settings for true/false with regard to tag pages. Thx.
On Oct 25, 2008, Nickler said:

I am very much a newbie in all respects. I have attempted to follow to a t the specific instrutions. Whenever I “save” I only get a blank video format and when I place my pointer over the blank a gray outline appears and the message click to activate but nothing happens and no video appears at any time. I know this may be difficult to diagnose considering all of the many steps involved, but would you have any clue at all?
On Oct 30, 2008, Rspre said:

Michael,

I searched all over the internet for a tutorial like this - and finally found it here. Thank you SO much.

Daniel
On Nov 12, 2008, mssbee said:

Important: the player needs to be named flvplayer.swf for the video to show up on your blog. I had to rename mine.

Change line 198 of wp-flv.php to have the flv button appear in both new posts and new pages:
if(strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], ‘page-new.php’) || strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], ‘post-new.php’
On Dec 30, 2008, islami video said:

i just used Roel Meurders’ plug-in for the first time the other day and I love it. thanx for the other tips too.
On Jan 3, 2009, David Ostrow said:

I think I followed the instructions in this blog http://www.solostream.com/2006/08/05/set-up-a-video-blog-or-how-to-add-flash-video-to-your-wordpress-site/

My blog is at new.fitgolf.com. I added the video folder to the folder NEW on my server. This folder NEW is on the root of the server so the path to it is /new/video. I put the flash player in that directory so it is a /new/video/flvplayer.swf, and I uploaded a video that I converted to flash. The file is 4Some.flv. its path is /new/video/4Some.flv .

I followed the directions you gave in the blog above to set up the post. I used the FLV button in the editor…and yes I turned off the visual editor. This is what shows in the editor after I insert the video using the FLV button. then I click on the save button and it changes the text to this : Foursome Training

I then published the post, and clicked on preview. If you click on this link you will see what I get: http://new.fitgolf.com/recent-news/1704 . If you click on the “Foursome Training” Link you will see the error I get…”Page not Found”.

In the WP-FLV Options I have this http:///video/flvplayer.swf as the path to the player. Quicktag is set to yes. Default URL to video is /video , size is 320×240, autostart is no, and xhtml code is no. In the (x)html to be place before each player is and in the (x)html to be place after each player is

What am I doing wrong.

Dave
On Jan 16, 2009, Pat said:

Hi, I see comments here as far back as ‘06. Im new to WP… Is the tutorial uptodate? Just wondering if there’s a better way today
On Jan 29, 2009, Crayden about Poland said:

Are there any updates to the article its very interesting but if there is any updates I would like to know about them before I start. But thanks for the original.
On Jan 31, 2009, Mike Durkin said:

No updates at this time. We will look into that idea.
On Feb 4, 2009, Mike Durkin said:

No updates at this time.
On Apr 21, 2009, radyo dinle said:

thanks
On May 3, 2009, bedava mp3 indir said:

thanks for you..!
On May 18, 2009, assos said:

thanks for contribution. very nice and useful article..
On Jun 23, 2009, oyun said:

Rather than using the Riva Encoder, I used Macromedia Flash 8 Video Encoder. Worked like a charm! Thanks for your help.