How to Embed a YouTube Video

WP Media Player wraps your YouTube video in its own custom player, so your visitors see a clean, branded experience instead of the default YouTube embed. Paste a video URL, pick a preset, and the title and thumbnail are filled in for you automatically.

In this guide you will learn how to:

• Add a YouTube video to your media library
• Choose a preset and aspect ratio
• Turn on Privacy-Enhanced Mode
• Add a Subscribe button to your players

Step 1: Paste the YouTube URL

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to WP Media Player > Media > Add New.
2. In the source picker, select YouTube.
3. Paste your YouTube video URL and continue to the editor.

You do not need to worry about the link format. WP Media Player recognizes all of these:

• Standard watch links (youtube.com/watch?v=...)
• Shortened links (youtu.be/...)
• Embed URLs (youtube.com/embed/...)
• Shorts URLs (youtube.com/shorts/...)

Automatic title and thumbnail

When you continue to the editor, WP Media Player fetches the video details from YouTube’s oEmbed API for you:

• The thumbnail is set as the poster image.
• The video title fills the Video Title field.

Want something different? You can replace either one manually at any time.

Step 2: Choose a Preset and Aspect Ratio

Once your video is loaded, you can customize how the player looks and behaves.PresetChoose one of the six free skins, or keep the default. The preset controls the overall look of the player.Aspect RatioMost YouTube videos are 16:9, so this usually needs no change. If your content is vertical or square, override the ratio to match.Load StrategyControls when the player initializes on the page. Visible is the default and works well for most YouTube embeds.

Step 3: Enable Privacy-Enhanced Mode (Optional)

Privacy-Enhanced Mode loads your embeds through youtube-nocookie.com instead of youtube.com. With this on, YouTube does not set cookies in the visitor’s browser until they press play. This is helpful if you want to respect visitor privacy or support your cookie-compliance setup.

To turn it on for your whole site:

1. Go to WP Media Player > Settings > YouTube.
2. Toggle Privacy Mode on.

Step 4: Add a Subscribe Button (Optional)

You can show a YouTube Subscribe button on every YouTube player, which makes it easy for viewers to follow your channel without leaving your page.

1. Go to WP Media Player > Settings > YouTube.
2. Toggle Show Subscribe Button on.
3. When the YouTube Channel URL or ID field appears, enter your channel. You can paste the full channel URL, or just the channel ID (the string that starts with UC).

The Subscribe button appears inside the player, below the video, and is styled to match the preset you selected.

Checklist: Make Sure Everything Works

After setting up your video, confirm the following:

• The video title and thumbnail appear in the media editor after you paste the URL.
• The player displays on the frontend with the correct preset skin.
• If Privacy Mode is on, the embed source uses youtube-nocookie.com.
• The Subscribe button appears below the player, and both the setting and the channel URL are filled in.

Next Steps

YouTube is one of six sources WP Media Player supports. To use a different source, see:

• How to embed a Vimeo video
• How to use a direct video or audio URL