Do you like taking pictures? Is videography your favorite hobby? Are you looking for a great way to show off your work and make your homepage more interesting? The photo slideshow software allows you to save your photos and memories for a lifetime. Also, many tools out there are free. With this software, you can feel as if you were a designer. Choose transitions, effects, and backgrounds for your presentations. There are many types of utilities available depending on whether you are a beginner or a professional. Here are some of the best photo slideshow producers available for free today.
Freemake Video Converter is presentation-making software that has some excellent advantages. It has many formats for saving presentations as videos and different transitions. Its interface is simple to use and offers the possibility of adding a music file. You can create an excellent presentation with this software in three simple steps. Add your photos, add a music track and choose the format. You can also use the clips joiner to combine several presentations into one. Do you want to upload your slideshow to YouTube? You can do it directly from the program; just click on the YouTube button and enter your YouTube account information.
MovieMaker is a free Microsoft product. The advantage of this software is that its interface is similar to other Microsoft tools. It’s easy to understand and use, and it is excellent software which you can use to create professional presentations. You can add photos, videos, animation and preview the presentation at any time. The presentation can be saved either in MP4 or in WMV formats.
Wondershare Fantashow is excellent software to create memorable presentations for important events like birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. The most significant advantage of this software is that it provides a large number of style formats. Choose themes, music, effects, and settings. Just select your photos and add them to the program. The software provides different formats for output (iPhone and iPad).
Socusoft Photo to Video Converter is one more fantastic program to create amazing video presentations. Create a memorable slideshow in four easy steps: add photos, select transition and music, check everything in preview and generate an output video. You can also record your voice and add your songs as background music.
How to upload videos to WordPress
Now when you’ve learned how to create a video for WordPress photos, let’s explore the most popular ways of embedding videos on your blog.
- HTML5 Video Player
The HTML5 video player is the ideal solution if your readers read your site from different devices. To add HTML5-compatible videos to your website, you need to have video files in three formats: MP4, WebM, OGG, as different browsers support different video qualities. You can do it easily with Freemake Video Converter. The free software converts any video into HTML5 formats and provides ready-to-paste code on your web page. After conversion, you will receive the following instructions to embed HTML5 video on your website.
Pros:
- your web video will be supported by mobile devices;
- it is not necessary to make readers install Adobe Flash Player to play the video;
- all modern browsers support HTML5 video.
Cons:
- older versions of Internet Explorer do not support HTML5;
- you need to keep videos on your server;
- you have to take the video in three formats.
Conclusion: The HTML5 video player fits perfectly to your site if you prefer in-house video hosting to public video services.
- YouTube
The YouTube web player seems the simplest and most common solution for embedding a video on a website. Since 2015 YouTube offers video playback in both Flash and HTML5 formats. It means that videos uploaded to YouTube can be transmitted on both PCs and mobile devices.
To embed a YouTube video, you need to:
Step 1. Create a YouTube channel and upload your video to it.
Step 2. Open the video and click Share, then Embed.
Step 3. Click Show More and customize the player if necessary.
Step 4. Copy the code provided by the site and paste it into your web page.
The video player on your website will look like the one on YouTube although you can hide the player controls and customize the size.
Pros:
- easy to implement;
- you do not need to keep videos on your server (and pay for it!);
- video promotion and advertising opportunities;
- playing videos on all platforms.
Cons:
- site visitors can stay on YouTube and leave your website;
- YouTube could add ads to your video;
- YouTube hosting dependency;
- player customization.
Conclusion: YouTube video embedding options are great to websites of all sizes. Small sites can save on video hosting, while large sites can gain additional brand visibility on YouTube and Google search.
- Vimeo
Vimeo is another popular platform for video sharing. Unlike YouTube, it offers premium options and free video hosting. Vimeo Plus and PRO options ($ 59.95 or $ 199/year) include uploading and embedding HD videos, fully customizable HTML5 player, advanced video management and privacy options. A free Basic account also allows users to get video code to paste on their websites.
To embed a video from Vimeo, follow the steps:
Step 1. Create a Vimeo channel and upload the video to your channel.
Step 2. Open the video player and click the Share button.
Step 3. Go to the Embed section and click More Options to customize your player.
Step 4. Copy the code and paste it into your web page.
Many web designers agree that the Vimeo player looks more stylish than the YouTube one. However, Vimeo’s video promotion opportunities are much lower than those of its main competitors.
Pros:
- free video hosting;
- web player with a pleasant appearance;
- support of various browsers;
- personalization of the web player.
Cons:
- a premium account is required to incorporate HD video;
- a few video promotion options;
- site visitors can leave your site and continue watching videos on Vimeo.
Conclusion: embedding video with Vimeo is the ideal solution for Plus and PRO subscribers, as they can receive all the advantages of hosting public videos and changing the web player to their needs.
- Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player was extremely popular for streaming video over the last ten years. However, with Apple’s refusal to support it on iOS devices and the advent of HTML5, Flash Player is now less used. You can still use this method of embedding videos if visitors that come to your site come from a PC and have older browser versions.
Flash Player can only transmit FLV and SWF video formats. So you have to convert your video into one of these formats.
If you know the basic HTML coding, you can easily customize the video player for your needs.
Pros:
- SWF videos can contain interactive objects;
- It is easy to prepare Flash videos with free software.
Cons:
- no support for playback on mobile devices;
- you need to keep videos on your server;
- requires the installation of the Flash Player plug-in to play videos.
Conclusion: The Flash Player option is for websites intended for desktop visitors.
- WordPress Video Player
WordPress is the most popular open source platform for blogs and websites. Since 2003, it has undergone dozens of updates. One of these versions offered the opportunity to upload and embed videos in posts in the same way you upload images. Without a doubt, the video must be in one of the streaming formats. It will also be problematic to upload large videos, as many WordPress accounts do not accept videos that exceed 100 MB.
To embed a video in the WordPress article, follow these steps:
Step 1. Make sure your video is in MP4, WMV, FLV, MOV, SWF format. If necessary, use the MP4 converter to convert it.
Step 2. Go to the WordPress console and open the post or page where you want to add a video.
Step 3. Click the Add Media button, then upload the files and select the video file.
Step 4. Make sure the display settings parameter is “Embed media player” and insert the video in the post.
Another great option of WordPress is the direct embedding from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Vine, and some other video sites via URL. To do this, select the Insert from URL instead of the Upload File tab, paste the video URL and your video will be embedded in the post. Alternatively, you can just add a link to the video in the post itself, and WordPress will add it to your post.
Pros:
- easy to do;
- supports embedding from numerous sites.
Cons:
- file limit;
- the video must be in a supported format;
- requires video hosting;
- no player customization.
Conclusion: it is the best video embedding option for WordPress sites.