Get HD WordPress Video with VideoPress
You may have noticed that videos around here have been getting higher and higher quality.
I don’t just mean the cool content from WordPress.tv, but the video player and video/audio quality itself.
We’ve rewritten how videos work here on WordPress.com from the ground-up and taken inspiration from the great products at Vimeo and Smugmug, and are pleased to formally offer our video upgrade to everyone. Here’s a sample of what it can do especially for those sweltering in the heat right now:
doneWith the video upgrade (available on your upgrades page, bottom left of dashboard navigation) when you upload a video of almost any format we’ll crunch it into several different formats just right for streaming on the web, DVD quality, HD quality, and even optimized for iTunes and Miro.
Videos can be streamed and embedded here on WordPress.com or on any site around the world, even in full HD.
The video feature was part of the space upgrade previously and for those that helped us test it we have now extended a one-year free video upgrade. We just want to make sure existing video users can continue to use it without any hassle. For new users, the video upgrade costs about 5 bucks a month.
As an added bonus, each video has stats attached to it so you can see how often they’re being viewed, and more stats are coming.
If you’d like to geek out, here’s some technical information about the encoding of videos and such, and the entire VideoPress WordPress video player and transcoder is under the GPL and open to the world.
In the future we’ll be working on giving your viewers more options for streaming and downloading videos, better and more in-depth stats, more player customization, and a way for WordPress.org users to use and embed the new player easier.
Email Newsletter
May 11th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
This is great, unfortunately this means I’ll have to make videos of myself cooking now. Thanks wordpress!!
Eric
May 11th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I made a cooking video once…
I single-handedly lowered the quality of cooking videos on the web, you have to help. I just comped the video upgrade on your blog.
Maybe post your favorite Greek recipe?
May 11th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
What about YouTube? Any word on HD YouTube?
*let it snow, let it snow*
- Lora
May 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
HD seems to work well on Youtube, about half the videos I watch there have it, but many video pros prefer not to put their videos there because of licensing and encoding issues. (Is my understanding, I’m not a video pro!)
May 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
That is quite clear… neat!
May 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I still think that 60 bucks a year is a lot just for video…
May 11th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
We try to run every part of our business in a way that’s sustainable and supportable for the long-term. By charging a fair amount for a superior service we can continue to invest in expanding the feature to be a great option for high-end video, just like WordPress is a fantastic option for high-end blogging. (And you wouldn’t believe how expensive it is to host and stream video, which is part of the reason we’ve waited to launch this until now, we’ve been working at getting the costs down.
May 11th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
>>The video feature was part of the space upgrade previously and for those that helped us test it we have now extended a one-year free video upgrade…. For new users, the video upgrade costs about 5 bucks a month.<<
What happens to the previously uploaded videos (under the space upgrade provision) after the end of one-year free upgrade?
From your message, it appears that the bloggers who have previously been able to upload videos – if they have purchased additional space – will no longer be able to do that after a year, unless they pay 5 bucks a month. I am concerned about the videos I have uploaded to my paid space upgrade account.
Thanks.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Previously uploaded videos on grandfathered accounts should be fine. Don’t worry!
May 11th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Awesome. Now make YouTube videos work in RSS feeds like the rest of the internet.
May 11th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
How about Youtube HD video’s ?
May 11th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
i think it’s a really good and cool add for everyone who use videos!!! ;-p
May 11th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Great! I’ve always loved wp but it’s getting better and better!
May 11th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Yeah! Great work WP!
May 11th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
That’s cool
Got any proper videos to show it off with? I’d like to see it in action 
May 11th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Well, the video in this post for one.
And, I’m particularly smitten with both the iPhone and the P2 theme introduction videos. Just flip that HD switch on and play them in full screen mode. Pretty cool stuff.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Fantastic..
You guys really doing well in leading us to “next generation blogging”
all the best
May 11th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Really pleased to see that the code is released under the GPL, nice move.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Wow…The quality is just great! and very nice timelapse Matt
May 11th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
very cool option for WordPress users with the bucks for it! ($60 a year isn’t bad just not in my budget just yet!) In the meantime, I guess I’ll just keep using YouTube and dream big!
May 11th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Now I gotta upgrade my camera. This internets stuff never ends
May 11th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
great news,I know I’ll use that some day,
by the way Matt I did watch your cooking video before… and I kinda liked it! :p
May 11th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Thanks a lot for the constant improvements to an already great service!
May 11th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Matt: “HD seems to work well on Youtube, about half the videos I watch there have it, but many video pros prefer not to put their videos there because of licensing and encoding issues. (Is my understanding, I’m not a video pro!)”
Agreed, but it would be cool to play those videos in the WordPress player, won’t it?
- Lora
May 11th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
The quality is really amazing. Great stuff!
May 12th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Sweet. Bikes are maybe one maybe one step down the video food chain from cooking. I may just have to give Dutch Bike videos a whirl in HD…. If nothing else it’s an excuse to get a real camera. Thanks Matt!
[flickr video=2701058292]May 12th, 2009 at 12:22 am
You fellas are great!! I’ve had blogs elsewhere….but WP is King of the Castle…always improving your service and giving great value to us poor souls with worn fingertips…
Irish Eddie
May 12th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I am making a film blog of life in Antarctica during the winter when 21 of us are isolated on base. I have been using youtube to upload my films then bringing them across to wordpress by embedding them in. Would it be easier puting them straight on wordpress and would the quality be the same better or worse???
May 12th, 2009 at 2:07 am
My video pros tell me that quality, both video and audio, is better on our system. But that doesn’t mean you can’t upload to both.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:24 am
I have been looking for a way to transition away from YouTube with my videos. Maybe this is the answer?
May 12th, 2009 at 2:51 am
One feature that has NOT changed — and I wish that there were an option giving us Videopress users a choice in the matter — is that WordPress videos don’t purely stream, but actually load into the computers of the people viewing them. That is to say, anyone viewing a WordPress video in a web browser such as Safari can copy the video’s URL and then download it onto their hard drive — EVEN when the embedding option is turned off. If the videos truly streamed, the way they do on a Website such as Hulu, it would be impossible to download the videos. To me (and perhaps to others, as well) this is a very important distinction, because most of the videos that I post are exclusively mine, and I don’t like the idea of other people being free and able to download that material and then repost it elsewhere.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
You’re right, it’s not a pure stream, we work like Youtube does.
May 12th, 2009 at 3:20 am
wow… my tv ain’t this clear!
May 12th, 2009 at 3:33 am
I could hardly watch videos on net thanks to the average speed (mere 256 kbps). But I may buy upgrades in future just the same when I am settled and get a high speed connection!
Matt, you may consider adding the name of the person you reply to here because that will make it easy for us to follow your replies in the mailbox itself (e.g.: Kirkfwatson, My video pros tells me that…. both)!
May 12th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Coolest thing ever! I might just upgrade.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Thank you for my one-year free subscription to VideoPress…. This is just awesome!
May 12th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Well, you guys rock! I presume there is no limit, then, on how many videos one can upload? In other words, the size of one’s blog storage will no longer determine the number or quality of video uploads because you guys are now in the business of video hosting. That’s fantastic! I am about to announce this lovely new feature to my blog audience of rabid video consumers. In my opinion, $60 bucks a year is more than fair. Here’s why:
I host a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds fan blog and often feature rare performance and interview videos of Nick and the band. Since most of the videos are collector’s items, I cannot upload them to YouTube in case they are deleted in one of their copyright violation purges. So, this is fabulous news, indeed. Thanks, WordPress!
A special kiss & hug for the free year’s subscription to VideoPress!
May 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
It’s still limited by the amount of space in your blog.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat quality, nice job!
thanks for the good work and for the free video upgrade.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:01 am
I’m loving the improvements to WordPress.com with the recent twitter widget and now this!
I would certainly consider paying for this upgrade, particularly for the podcasting possibilities and because embedded YouTube videos look so ugly. The one thing kind of putting me off is that by ditching YouTube you miss out on the community of it that people would get involved in when clicking through from a YouTube video.
Slightly weird question, but is there any way that by clicking on the video it could link through to somewhere? Like it’s YouTube counterpart.
Also, will there be the option to see any number of views stats?
May 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Like I said in the post, there are stats added to your stats page. There’s nothing that says you can’t upload your video to both places.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:28 am
This is great! Thanks guys!!
Now the world will see my “Life During Wartime” dances…
*Evil Laugh*
ahem.
Regards,
Mike
May 12th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Great! However, Is there a video uploader in the works?
May 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
You can upload just like anything else. Did you mean something different?
May 12th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Ah, It now has a video! xD wasn’t there when I wrote the first comment
Although if you want to have a quick laugh (or giggle, what ever you prefer), take a look at the video running under: Gnash, Firefox 3.5b4, Linux.
May 12th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Quality is really amazing!
May 12th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Will we ever get the possibillity to embed vimeo videos like we do with youtube?
May 12th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
You already can! Info is here: http://support.wordpress.com/videos/vimeo/
May 12th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Thanks WordPress!!!!
let it snow!
(i’ll be sending you one of my kids soon)!
wheeeeeeeeee!
May 12th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
stick to hot pockets
May 12th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Great
May 12th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
awesome.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I bought a one-year-upgrade for $20 in march. With this free-one-year-extended-upgrade… does that kick in today, or next march when my paid upgrade expires?
May 13th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
It kicked in on May 6, 2009, so you will enjoy free VideoPress upgrade until May 6, 2010.
You can check the dates from Admin Panel => Upgrades => My Subscriptions section
May 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Cool! I love watching videos in HD!
May 12th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Cool.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I think that 60 bucks a year is too much for this tool. What i really dont understand is what is the diference between this service and the free service in youtube and Dailymotion embeding them with vodpod? This is not a sarcasm, I only want to know.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
In general: quality, speed, control, and more assurance that your stuff will be there.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Shoot! How’m I ever going to keep up with the technology?!!?!?!?
May 13th, 2009 at 7:33 am
finally
May 13th, 2009 at 9:00 am
I thought the skiing video looked great full-screen.
Then I realized it wasn’t even playing in HD yet. Wow.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
this skiing video looked very very nice and great full-screen.
I love it!!!!
May 14th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Oh my. I’ve been thinking about incorporating baking demos on my dessert blog for a while now. And I’ve got an HD-capable camera too. So, so tempted. It really looks fantastic.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Great! WP is getting better and better! Good Luck
May 14th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I don’t mind paying the price. I’ve been embedding small video clips all along anyway. Now I must simply get an HD video camera and improve my video skills and content.
Thanks WordPress! This is a fantastic improvement!
May 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Great thank u
May 14th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Thanks a lot, guys, for the one-year free subscription to VideoPress you gave to our blog.
We’ll make and post some videos as soon as possible.
May 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
WOW
This is cool, I’m searching for the way to put the Video in my blog, but I don’t know how. Thanks too much for the info.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
cool tnx it’ll be great
May 16th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Too techie and slow. What I want is to be able to record a video blog straight to my WordPress page – like SEESMIC.
Any chance that this might happen?
May 16th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Super stuff!
May 17th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Dear Matt,
great news
May 18th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Belatedly answering Matt @May 13 1:26 pm: “It’s still limited by the amount of space in your blog.”
Ah. Whenever something sounds too good to be true… So WordPress now charges an additional $60 per year for video upload privileges. A feature that was free with a nominal 5 GB space upgrade (a very affordable $20 per year). I appreciate the free year of VideoPress and I agree that HD is lovely and all but it not worth paying 3 times the cost of my blog storage. Worse, it is a no-choice charge. Video bloggers must pony up the extra $60/year or we may no longer upload videos at all.
Thanks for waking me up to reality. I haven’t had a good dose in a while.. SIGH.
May 18th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Had the darndest time trying to figure out how to turn the captions on
Accessibility Rules.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:32 am
First off, thank you. Just want to reiterate a couple of things.
1) The service is about $60 a year.
2) You cover the bandwidth. Thanks!
3) Storage, in addition to our complimentary 3 GB, is additionally 5 GB for $20/year, 15 GB for $50/year, or 25 GB for $90/year.
Questions
1) Who owns the content?
2) And who would be the appropriate party the Brothers will want to Warner (those poopers)?
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
You own the content. I have no idea to #2.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:40 am
“Sweltering in the hot weather right now”? Remember globalisation … not all your fans are ’sweltering’!!!!
Great to see WordPress adding new, genuinely useful features to the blogging mix. Thank you!
May 19th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Fantastic! You guys are amazing. You just keep bringing in new services, new tools and new everything… Not complaining though… keep it coming…
I’m seriously considering naming my kid… “WordPress”
Or maybe not… just my fish probably..
May 19th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I understand that WordPress.com want to cover their expenses but 60 $ is too much for a feature that you can get almost anywhere for free. Maybe its interesting for video geeks, but not for me. For 60 Bucks I could easily get a cool hosting plan and then stream those videos from there – plus the space upgrade which is included in it then as well.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I can use youtube free, or pay you guys money.
That’s an easy decision. Thank you, Word/video/monetisePress, for keeping my life simple.
Keep up the “innovations”*.
How’s the innovation of being able to use third-party Javascript widgets in my sidebar coming along?
*You might like to point your innovation team to audioboo, to get some new ideas for something else you can charge your users for.
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
This is an amazing advancement to wordpress!!
my only problem is not having the ‘upgrades’ option down the left side of my dashboard..! anyone else have this problem?
or better yet a solution?! i’m gagging to take my blog to videopress!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Make sure that you’re looking at your WordPress.com blog dashboard, and not a self-hosted version. For the differences, see here.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:17 pm
This will be a great feature for All.
In my case I can demonstrate the “how to” tutorial articles to those who learn better by watching the instructions versus reading them.
How does one get a 1 year free subscription?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
If you haven’t already purchased the space upgrade, I’m sorry, but you’ll need to purchase the VideoPress upgrade.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Skype adjusts the video based on bandwidth (even dynamically, I think). Any chance of that happening?