How to Use Your Own Videos in PowerPoint for the Web

PowerPoint on Windows or macOS always allows you to upload and use your own videos in a presentation. The feature is now part of PowerPoint for the Web. The ability to add your own videos gives you another medium to create more personal presentations instead of cookie-cutter templates.

Microsoft Insider users can try this feature now. As with the evolution of all Microsoft updates, it’s expected that all users of Office.com will be able to see it on the PowerPoint menu soon.

Upload Your Own Videos From Desktop or Mobile

The free Office 365 Online is one of the best ways to use the Office suite without paying for it. PowerPoint for the Web can always tap YouTube or other online video sources. Not all online videos are embeddable, so the option to use your videos is handy. As described in a Microsoft Insider blog post, the feature is straightforward.

1. Log into Office.com and open a PowerPoint slide where you want to use the video.
2. Go to Insert > Video > Video from device.
3. Select the video you want to upload from your desktop and choose the Open button to insert it into your slide.
4. Move or resize the video or apply effects to the clip.

Tips to Consider:

Microsoft has mentioned a few pointers for including your own videos in a presentation.

• Include shorter videos to avoid losing the audience’s attention.
• The maximum size for uploaded videos should not be more than 256 MB.
• The mp4 video file format offers the best balance of quality and performance. Other supported file types are MOV, WMV, AVI, M4V, MKV, ASF, and TS.

Creative Uses of Your Own Videos in PowerPoint

Presentations are more dynamic and immersive, thanks to videos. While millions of videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and other platforms exist, not all of them are suitable or even embeddable. Inserting your own videos opens up more options for using PowerPoint online. For instance, you can create a personal travelogue with your videos or start a family newsletter on a slide. In addition, you can quickly create a video on your mobile and insert it on PowerPoint for the Web.

A company-branded video can be a better message than a generic one for professional presentations. You can use the same brand assets across different mediums and make your communication less of a time hog.