No matter the industry or purpose, a perfectly executed PowerPoint presentation can make all the difference. It’s also well-known that video performs better than other media formats in conveying information. 

People tend to lean on and respond better to a particular learning format, whether audio, visual or a hybrid. The combined audio and visual output in video ensure you consider every demographic in your audience, and as a result, you’re likely to achieve your objectives with the presentation.

Following these detailed steps, find out how to embed a video in PowerPoint.

How to Embed a Downloaded Video in PowerPoint

Embedding a video in PowerPoint can be highly convenient, especially if you want to streamline your presentation. However, depending on the size of the video you embed, the PowerPoint document can be too bulky. On the bright side, you can still share the PowerPoint with anyone, and they’ll have full access to the video.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Launch PowerPoint on your PC and open the presentation into which you want to embed the video.
• Scroll through the various slides, and identify where you want to embed the video.
• Go to the Insert tab and select the video option. This is on the top right corner of your screen.

• Select This Device from the dropdown menu, and navigate to the file location where you’ve saved the downloaded video. Choose the video and click open on the system prompt.

• In the media library, choose the video you want to add to the presentation and click on the Insert button.

• The transfer should be almost instantaneous, but it can delay slightly with larger files. Reposition the embedded video to a more desirable place in the slide and hit save. 

How to Add a Video Link to PowerPoint

An embedded video link may be most appropriate if you’re bothered by a large PowerPoint document. Still, this method has its limitations. You must be able to guarantee the availability of the video through the link, at least for the foreseeable period that the PowerPoint will be in use.

For this reason, you should consider using a reliable video hosting provider that can ensure the link will be live almost indefinitely.

Here’s how to do it:

• Launch PowerPoint on your device and locate the PP document into which you want to embed the video link. Alternatively, you can open find the PP document on your device and open it directly.
• With the document opened, select the Insert tab on your ribbon and look for the video option on the top right section of the window.
• Click Online Videos from the dropdown menu. Go back to the video resource and copy either the video or the share link. Paste the link in the allocated space as shown below, then hit the insert button.
• At the moment, Ms. Office PowerPoint 2016 only allows links to online videos hosted on five platforms: YouTube, SlideShare, Flip, Vimeo, and Stream. Due to this, if you’re using Ms. Office 2016 or an earlier version, you must host the video on either of the five.

• Depending on where you’ve hosted the video, you might want to change the access settings for the video link to enable access for all users in case you have to share the PowerPoint document with others.

How to Embed a YouTube Video in PowerPoint

There are two ways around this. You can embed the YouTube video as a media file from your device, which means you’ll have to download it first, or you can embed the YouTube video in PowerPoint using a link.

With the former, you only need to download the YouTube video to your device. You can then embed the downloaded YouTube video into the PowerPoint document, as shown in the first tutorial.

If you’re embedding a YouTube video in PowerPoint via its link, refer to the steps mentioned above on how to add a video link to PowerPoint. However, you must ensure that the resource will be available for as long as the PowerPoint document is in use and all access restrictions are removed.

How to Link a Video Hosted on Wave.video

You’re missing out on many great features if you’re not using Wave.video free video hosting.

So how do you link a video hosted on Wave.video? If you’re using Ms. Office 2016 or earlier, you may have noticed that the Wave.video isn’t on the list of supported video providers, and thus you can’t embed your Wave.video link in your PowerPoint document.

Here’s a simple workaround for this:

• First, log into your Wave.video account or sign up for a free one if you haven’t already.
• Once you are in your account, open the My Projects tab, the button is on the homepage.

• Upload the video you want to embed or choose one from your collection, and click on it.
• Now, you are on the page of setting the video hosting. On the left side of the screen, click Player. This is not necessary, but it’s essential if you want to customize the video to align more with your brand. Change the player color, toggle with the control options, once you are done with all the changes, remember to save it (click on the Save changes button).

• If you need to make some changes to the video itself, click on the Edit video button. Once complete, hit the Publish button. 
• Select the video option, then publish to your YouTube or Vimeo channel. You can restrict these videos to private. Allow the authentication to go through, and if necessary, log in to your account and grant Wave.video access to the platform.
• Hit the share button, and log in to your Vimeo or YouTube account. Open the video you’ve just shared there, and copy the link.
• Next, open PowerPoint and go to the insert tab.
• Select Video and choose the Online Videos option. Paste the link in the specified space and hit insert. Give it a moment, and the new video should appear on the slide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can I not embed a video in PowerPoint?

There are two main reasons: File incompatibility or unsupported video hosting platforms.

The video file could be incompatible with Ms. PowerPoint. Supported video file types include: *.AVI, *.WMV, *.MP4, *.M4V, *.MOV, *.MPG and *.MPEG.  

If your file is in another format, simply upload the video to Wave.video for free, download it in any of the supported file formats, and embed the now suitable video file in PowerPoint.

PowerPoint only allows you to embed video links from five supported video providers. These include Vimeo, YouTube, SlideShare, Flip, and Stream. If your video link isn’t from any video provider in this list, you won’t be able to embed it in PowerPoint. The only solution is to upload the video to approved providers, generate or copy the video link, and paste it on the PowerPoint link prompt.

How do you put a YouTube video in PowerPoint without ads?

Ideally, you can download the YouTube video and embed it directly from your device into PowerPoint afterward.

However, some videos contain burn-in ads, and you’ll still run into the ads even if you download the video.

The best option is downloading the video to your device and uploading it to Wave.video. You can then use advanced editing capabilities on the free video editor tool to cut out any ads in the video. 

Once you’ve done this, you can download the ad-free version and embed it as a video from your device. Alternatively, you can publish the video to your YouTube or Vimeo channel right on Wave.video, then embed it as a link on PowerPoint.

How to add a TikTok video to my PP presentation?

There are two ways to do this. First, you can download the TikTok video to your device and embed it as a video on your PowerPoint presentation. The procedure is the same as how to embed a downloaded video in PowerPoint.

However, the TikTok video can sometimes be bulky, especially if it’s in MOV format. In this instance, you download it to your device and then upload the video to Wave.video for free.

You can then edit it on the free video editor tool or publish it on one of Ms. PowerPoint’s supported video providers. 

Once you’ve published it, load the video from your channel, copy the link, and paste it as described on how to add a video link to the PowerPoint tutorial. 

Can I embed a video into PowerPoint 2013 and earlier versions?

Yes. PowerPoint 2013 and earlier versions support embedding videos into PowerPoint documents. 

PowerPoint 2010 had a problem at some point, but the issue was resolved, and you should be able to embed a video into a PowerPoint document with that version too.

Since the design is the same across all the Ms. Office versions, the procedures should be the same, with minimal differences.

Final Thoughts

Any PowerPoint presentation falls into two categories, informational or a business pitch. In both, it’s vital to convey the information in the presentation in an easy-to-understand manner and in an engaging format to avoid losing your audience.

Video can help you achieve this objective. By shifting from the monotonous blocks of text to an engaging audio-visual output, you can emphasize certain concepts further and, in some cases, accommodate audio-visual learners in your audience.

Fortunately, if you ask yourself once again, “How to embed a video in PowerPoint?” You’ll see that it is not as difficult as it sounds. With a bit of practice and step-by-step following this guide, you should be well on your way to creating spectacular presentations with embedded videos.