Insert video to Powerpoint is hard? No, it’s a piece of cake!

Using videos in your Powerpoint presentation is a good way to catch viewers’ attention and keep them engaged. Have you ever tried adding videos to your presentations? Do you want to know how to do that? If that’s the case, why don’t spend a few minutes checking out this post “Insert video to Powerpoint is hard? No, it’s a piece of cake!.” Following are practical guidelines for you.

Have you ever tried adding videos to your presentations?

Indeed, adding or inserting video into Powerpoint slides is so easy and simple. There are also more than one ways to do that. In this article, we are going to introduce to you the two easiest ways to insert video to Powerpoint, using a file from your PC and a YouTube video. The details are all below here. But first, it’s good to take a look at the benefits of using video in a presentation. Let’s see what they are now!

Why using videos in presentations?

Do you know that your presentation can be made much more dynamic and engaging by incorporating the use of videos? Yep, that’s true. And it’s not exaggerated that a well-placed video can take your whole presentation to the very next level. 

It’s a good idea to insert video to Powerpoint and let it make your presentation more interesting

So, what makes the video that important? Here are a few basic reasons:

• Videos can help capture the attention of an audience easily and immediately. Sometimes, starting a presentation with a video is what the audience needs to, well, “wake up” and turn attention to what the presenter says and shows. 

• Videos make the presentation more interesting. Text-heavy presentations where all slides look the same tend to be so boring, right? But what if we use video? By utilizing sight and sound, video is so good at reeling the audience in. This way, it helps improve the audience’s experience. 

• Videos give both the audience and the presenter needed breaks. Sometimes, the audience might feel like the presenter is, well, just going on and on and on with the topic. By having videos in the presentation, they’ll have something to watch and enjoy instead of just listening to someone talk. Plus, videos also give the presenter a moment to break, drink water, and check notes as well.

• ...

These are a few notable pros of incorporating videos in a presentation. As you can see, videos really boost the quality and engagement of a presentation, right? Now, let’s move on to the next part of this writing to learn how to insert video to Powerpoint presentations.

Using videos in your Powerpoint presentation is a good way to catch viewers’ attention

How to insert video to Powerpoint presentations?

As promised previously, right below here are two ways that you can use to add videos into presentation slides. They are all so easy to follow and help you embed the videos successfully right from the first time.

Embedding a video from a file on your PC

The process for inserting a video from a file on a computer to Powerpoint varies depending on the Powerpoint versions you are working with. Following are the instructions on how to insert video to Powerpoint 2016.

• Step 1: Choose the slide you want to embed a video in

First, open the presentation and click on the slide you want to insert a video into. Note that you can always change the orders of slides later if you want.

• Step 2: Select your video

Next, go to Menu and click “Insert,” select “Video” and then click “This Device.” From there, choose the file you would like to insert.

 

Insert video to PowerPoint: Click “This Device” then choose the video file you want to add 

• Step 3: Adjust the settings to format your video

Once your video is added, you can make adjustments to ensure it plays the way you want. From video styles, video shapes, video borders, video effects, to the height and width, and others, you can adjust a lot of things here. 

Start your slideshow to make sure everything is to your liking, and you’re done!

• Step 4: Preview your presentation

Don’t forget to start your slideshow to make sure your video plays exactly the way you want it to. And you are done! 

It’s so easy to insert video to Powerpoint from a file on a computer, isn’t it? Now, let’s see how we do that with a YouTube video.

Embedding a YouTube video 

Well, embedding a YouTube video in Powerpoint is similar to the way you insert a video from a file as described recently. Steps 1, 3, and 4 are the same. Only step 2 is a bit different here. 

To insert video to PowerPoint 2016 using a YouTube URL, in step 2, you still go to Menu and click “Insert,” select “Video.” But instead of clicking “This Device,” you click “Online Video ...” like shown below here:

Click “This Online Video ...” 

After that, you will need to insert the address for the video online from Slideshare, Vimeo, Steam, and of course, YouTube like this:

Insert the address for the online video 

For online videos to work, note that you will need an internet connection during your presentation.  

What video formats can be inserted into Powerpoint?

To successfully insert video to Powerpoint and let it play properly, you need to add the right video file formats, right? That’s it’s necessary to know what supported video file formats in PowerPoint are.

Well, Powerpoint can play different video file formats like Window Video file (.asf, .avi), MP4 video file (.mp4, .m4v, .mov), movie file ( .mpg or .mpeg), MPEG-2 video (.m2v), DVI movie (.dif), Window Media Video file (.wmv), and more. But as you know, there are different versions of Powerpoint and the supported video file formats in Powerpoint can also vary depending on the versions and the operating system that we are using. 

Powerpoint can play different video file formats

Here are the video format recommendations for different Powerpoint versions and OS:

• For Windows:

• PowerPoint 2010: .wmv

• Newer versions of Microsoft PowerPoint: .mp4 video files encoded with H.264 video & AAC audio

• For macOS: .mp4 video files encoded with H.264 video & AAC audio

For iOS and Android, the supported video file formats include:

• For iOS: MP4 video files (.mp4, .m4v, .mov) and movie files (.mpg or .mpeg)

• For Android: MP4 video file (.mp4), and VP8, VP9 (.mkv)

These are about supported video file formats and recommended video file formats to use in Powerpoint. Well, if you also want to know how to insert video to Word, go on to the next part of this post to get the quick guidelines.

Inserting video to Word is also easy and simple

Bonus: How to insert video to Microsoft Word?

Insert video to PowerPoint is easy. And similar to the processes for inserting a video to Powerpoint, here are two ways that you can use to embed a video in a Microsoft document. Note that the instructions are for Microsoft Word 2016.

Insert a local video

• Step 1: Open your Word document, then navigate to the position that you want to insert the video. Click the “Insert” tab, choose “Object” in the Text group.

• Step 2: Next, select the “Create From File” tab and then click “Browse.” From there, choose the video on your PC and click “Open.”

Select the “Create From File” tab and then click “Browse”

Just need to click the “OK” button then you’ll insert the video successfully. Note that if you choose the “Link to File” option, then Words will create a link to the video. And if you choose the “Display as Icon” option, then you can use an icon to display that video.

• Step 3: Don’t forget to preview the video to see if it displays and plays the way you want. 

Insert an online video

• Step 1: Open your Word document, then navigate to the position that you want to insert the video. Click the “Insert” tab, choose “Online Video” in the Media group.

Choose “Online video”

• Step 2: Paste the video URL that you want to insert into your document and then click the “Insert” icon.

• Step 3: Click the play button over the inserted video to test if it’s working. Note that you need an internet connection to run the video.

Roundup

Recently, we learned how to insert video into a Powerpoint presentation from a file on a PC and embed a YouTube video to it as well. As you can see, either using a file on a PC or a YouTube video, it’s so easy to incorporate videos in a presentation, right? And that’s all for today’s article “Insert video to Powerpoint is hard? No, it’s a piece of cake!.” Hope you liked this post and found the information and instructions above useful.

See also: Video formats supported by Instagram and other things to know

Sources:

biteable.com/blog/embed-video-powerpoint

videoexcellence.com/use-video-presentation

support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-and-audio-file-formats-supported-in-powerpoint-d8b12450-26db-4c7b-a5c1-593d3418fb59