12 Videos and Audio

In this chapter, you will learn how to embed video and audio content in your book.^[1]

Videos

Pressbooks makes it relatively simple to embed streaming videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or Kaltura. However, you should not upload videos from other websites directly into your book, to ensure your readers do not encounter playback errors. Instead, embed the video by pasting the URL in its own line in the visual editor.

If you choose to upload a video to your media library, use one of the file types listed in the Pressbooks User Guide chapter linked below, and be sure to keep the file size small. If the file is too large you will have issues with how it displays in your book.

YouTube

Many CUNY libraries upload videos on YouTube for the information needs of their campus community. They do so for several reasons.

• YouTube is easy to use.
• Videos on YouTube can be assigned the CC BY Creative Commons license.
• YouTube ensures the increased exposure of the information in these videos, beyond the library’s brick-and-mortar location or website.

If you own the copyright for a video posted on YouTube and intend to include it in your open textbook, take steps to change the video’s license from the default “Standard YouTube License” to “Creative Commons –Attribution.” The video below shows how.

Not all videos from YouTube can be embedded into Pressbooks. YouTube videos have three privacy settings that account holders can select. Pressbooks can only embed videos set to “Public” (can be viewed by anyone) or “Unlisted” (can be viewed by anyone who has a direct link to the video). Videos that are set to “Private” (can only be viewed by video owner) cannot be embedded into Pressbooks. (For instructions on how to adjust privacy settings while uploading a video, see How to Upload a Video to YouTube.)

Videos grouped in a playlist on YouTube are designed to play continuously in sequence. To prevent rollover for an embedded video taken from a playlist, use the URL provided via the Share link found above the video description box. Highlight the URL by double clicking the link, then copy the URL by right clicking on the link and selecting “Copy.”

Video Captions

To ensure videos are accessible to all students, they must be captioned. When including videos in Pressbooks, there are a few options for adding captions to videos.

1. If the video is hosted somewhere else (like YouTube or Kaltura) and is being embedded in Pressbooks, you can caption the video from within that platform. The captions will be included when the video is embedded into Pressbooks. This option is the easiest.
2. If you are uploading a video directly to Pressbooks, you will not be able to caption the video within Pressbooks. As such, you have two options.
   1. Use the Amara subtitle editor to create a caption file (VTT) for the video. Then, enable H5P, use the interactive video content type, and upload the video there. Within the H5P activity, you will be able to upload the VTT file to the video, and captions will display.
   2. Apply open captions to your video. Open captions are part of the video and cannot be turned on and off. Video editors like Adobe Premier can be used to add option captions.

Audio

Audio files posted in a repository, such as SoundCloud, can be embedded in Pressbooks the same way that videos are embedded—using a URL.

Here is an example of an embedded audio clip.