You can control whether viewers can download your VideoPress videos or share them on other sites. In this guide, you’ll learn how to enable or disable downloads and sharing for individual videos or all videos on your site.
VideoPress makes video playback and sharing a straightforward experience for your viewers. Using the share links, viewers can easily share and embed your videos. Click the Share button (a curved arrow icon) in the top-right corner of the video player to reveal the following sharing options:
- Link: Copy the URL of the video.
- Start at: Adds the
?at=parameter to the URL. Anyone who clicks the URL will see the video starting at the timestamp of your choice. - Loop: The video will repeat itself for the viewer.
- Autoplay: The video will start playing automatically for the viewer, without needing to click the Play button.
- Embed (HTML): Copy an iframe code to embed the video on another website.
To adjust download and sharing options for a specific video in the editor, follow these steps:
- Select the VideoPress block in your post or page.
- Open the block settings sidebar.
- If you do not see the sidebar, click the Settings icon in the top-right corner of the editor.
- Scroll to the Privacy and rating section.
- Adjust the following options:
- Allow download: Turn this on to show a download button, allowing viewers to save the video file.
- Show video sharing menu: Turn this on to let viewers copy the video link or HTML embed code for sharing.
- Toggle these options on or off as needed.
- Click Save or Publish to apply your changes.
You can also adjust sharing and download settings for an individual video from your Media Library:
- Go to your dashboard.
- Click Media in the left menu.
- Locate and click the video you want to edit.
- On the right side, check or uncheck the boxes for:
- “Display share menu and allow viewers to copy a link or embed this video”.
- “Display download option and allow viewers to download this video”.
- Click Save to update your settings.
To disable sharing and download options for all videos on your site:
- Go to your dashboard.
- Navigate to Settings → Media in the left menu.
- Scroll down to the Video Player section.
- Uncheck the box for “Share embed codes and download links“.
- Your changes are saved automatically.
⚠️
Disabling sharing and downloads removes the direct options from the player, but it is not possible to fully prevent downloading if a video is viewable in a browser. Advanced users may still be able to save videos using browser tools or extensions.
