Video & Audio

Last Updated March 2026

Learn to upload your own video or audio files to your site. Alternately, you can embed from an external service such as YouTube.

On this page:

• Before you Start
• Insert the File on a Page or Post
  • Audio Files
  • Sample playlist

Before you Start

Make sure you are in compliance with legal, copyright, privacy and university requirements. Including the American’s with Disabilities requirement that a transcript, caption and or audio description is provided.

WordPress currently allows for the following media file types: audio: mp3, m4a, ogg, video: mov, avi, m4v, wmv, avi, mpg, ogv, 3gp, 3g2 and for images: jpg, jpeg, png and gif. Visit the WordPress help site for an up to date and complete list of accepted file types. If you need to use an alternative file type or encounter issues with large files and storage limits, please contact the COFA Web team.

File size limit: WordPress suggests that file sizes up to 1 GB should work but always keep in mind that larger file sizes can impair site performance.

Site storage limit: While UBS doesn’t currently post any pre-defined storage limits, we recommend that content owners make it a practice of optimizing all your files before uploading them to your site. There are several tools which allow you to adjust file sizes without sacrificing quality. Read more about this in our guidelines for file optimization.

Insert the File on a Page or Post

• While editing a Page or Post, place your cursor in the body text area where you would like the multimedia file to appear.
• Type /Audio or /Video or click the Add Block button and select the type of media you’d like to insert.
• A popup will appear with several ways to insert the file: drag and drop from your computer, upload a media file, select one already in the media library or insert from a URL.

Audio Files

The Audio block embeds a simple audio player for a single file. This doesn’t include track information, so you’ll need to add a caption or text details about the track. The block Settings allow you to set an audio track to autoplay, but we discourage this as it may interfere with visitors using assistive technology. You want to ensure that someone using a screen reader can hear the screen reader without other sounds playing.

To embed a media player with a single audio file or a playlist, first upload the files to your site’s media library.

• Place your cursor on the Page or Post where you would like the playlist to appear.
• Type /Shortcode or click the Add Block button and select the Shortcode block.
• Insert the following code.
  
• To find the IDs for each track:
  • Locate the file in the media library
  • Click the “Edit” link under the file (or “Edit More Details” in the file settings)
  • On the detail page, the post ID is in the URL
    

Tip: On the file details page in the media library, make sure to fill out details about the file, such as Title and Artist, as this will appear on the playlist. You can also chose the photo that appears as each track’s “album cover” by setting a featured image.

Click View > Preview in New Tab to see your player. If you are satisfied you can save your page. To edit your playlist, just add or remove track IDs in the shortcode.

If you’d like to move your playlist anywhere on your page/website or you’d like it in more than one location, copy or cut the shortcode and paste it where you’d like the playlist to display.

Sample playlist

Enjoy an eclectic mix of contemporary electronic music: