How to Add a Video in PowerPoint

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint and select the slide where you want to add the video.
• On the Insert tab, in the Media group, click the Video drop-down arrow.

• You’ll see two options. To add a video from YouTube (or a different online platform such as Vimeo), choose Online Video… Please note that you need the URL of the video you want to add.
• A new window will open and you’ll see a text field, where you must enter the URL of the video you want to add to your presentation. If you don’t have the latest version of PowerPoint, only URLs of videos from Youtube will be supported, but you’ll also find another option to paste and embed code for videos from other websites. In any case, once the video is loaded, it will appear in the slide.

• To insert a video from your PC into a PowerPoint presentation, you must first make sure that the video has the right format. It must be an .mp4, .mov or .avi file. Microsoft suggests using .mp4 files with the H.264 codec.
• Open your presentation and select the slide where you want to add the video.
• On the Insert tab, in the Media group, click the Video drop-down arrow

• Click Video on My PC. A new window will open, where you must locate the video that you want to include in your presentation.
• Once selected, click the drop-down arrow next to Insert. You’ll see two options. If you choose Insert, the video will be directly inserted into the presentation, increasing the size of the PowerPoint file. If you choose Link to File, a link to the file will be created, reducing the size of the PowerPoint file. However, there could be issues if you use the presentation in a different computer, forcing you to link the video again.

• Click the desired option to add the video to the selected slide.
• If you want to export a video from your PowerPoint presentation, select the video, right-click → Save Media as… Please note that this can only be done with videos inserted from your PC.

Select the video whose format you want to adjust. A new set of tabs, called Video Tools, will appear on the toolbar.  

• On the Video Format tab you’ll find similar options than those found on the Format tab when working with pictures. This means you can change the color, the position, the size and the effects of the video (such as Reflection, Bevel or Shadow). There are also several presets to choose from.

• In the Accessibility group, you’ll find an option to add an alternative text to the videos so that they are more accessible to people with visual impairments. If you don’t have the latest version of PowerPoint, this option won’t appear on the toolbar. However, you can still find it by right-clicking the video → Format Video. A new panel will appear on the right side of the screen. Click the third icon, Size and Properties, and then click the Alt Text drop-down arrow.

• On the Video Format tab, you’ll find on the right side an option to crop the video, adapting it to your needs.

• Select the video. A new set of tabs, called Video Tools, will appear on the toolbar. On the Playback tab you can find settings to determine when to start the video, add bookmarks and modify different playback options. These are only available for videos from your computer, and not for online videos.

• In the Bookmarks group, you’ll find an option to add bookmarks, which will be visible in the timeline. These can be helpful if you want to quickly find the main points in your video during the presentation.

• In the Editing group, there are options to add a fade in and a fade out. There’s also an option called Trim Video. If you click it, a menu will open, where you can set the start point and the end point of the video.

• In the Video Options group, there are options to adjust the playback. For example, you can change the volume levels, enable looping, set the video to rewind itself when it ends or even hide the video while it’s not playing. If you click the Start drop-down arrow, you can determine when the video should begin playing.

• In the last group, Caption Options, you’ll find an option to add captions in WebVTT format. This option won’t be available unless you’re using the latest version of PowerPoint.