Video blocks in Squarespace can now automatically play and loop
Embedding videos in your Squarespace website adds a dynamic visual effect element of interest and captures the interest and attention of visitors on your site. You can embed videos from YouTube, Venmo, and also upload directly into Squarespace.
Videos added from YouTube and Venmo require a custom embed code provided by the video host. You can now directly upload 30 minutes of video content into Squarespace. The videos are stored in your Asset Library, along with your images.
Videos can be added to a background or placed anywhere on a page within a video block. Videos added to a background will automatically play when you land on that page. (These videos don’t play sound.)
(This option is available for all video blocks in Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1. For video pages and section backgrounds, you can only use your Squarespace hosted videos in version 7.1)
Now with video blocks, you can customize your playback settings to autoplay and/or loop.
Here’s how to upload a video directly into Squarespace and set the video options:
• While in Edit Mode, add a Video block
• In the pop-up Content window, click on the + to upload your video
(Note from Squarespace:
“When you upload a video file to Squarespace directly, we automatically convert it to an .mp4 file that can display at 1080p or 360p to maximize compatibility with all devices, browsers, and internet connections. There's no way to manually select which resolution displays.”)
• Add a Custom featured image
Tip: It’s best to add a Custom featured image so if for some reason your video doesn’t show up, there is an image in its place.
• Mute video for Autoplay
To use the autoplay setting, you must enable the mute video option.
• Choose Autoplay and/or Loop video
• Choose Player Controls
You can choose ALL so that all video play options are available on hover, including Play, Pause, time line, mute (however there will be no sound if you have chosen to autoplay your video), play speed, and make video full screen.
The Minimal option will only show the Play or Pause button on hover.
The None option will not show any controls when you hover over, however, you can still click on the video to pause it.
• Don’t forget to add a description for SEO!
Do note that this will also show up as a caption below the video.
See more about image SEO near the end of this blog post: Tips for beautiful website images for your brand and how to best format them (same SEO applies for images as well as videos)
The video below shows the steps for setting the autoplay and loop features:
This video is set to Autoplay and Loop with Player controls set to None.
For more info on how to embed YouTube and Venmo videos, along with the codes for setting these videos to autoplay, see these Squarespace articles: Adding videos to your site and Autoplaying videos
