How to Embed YouTube Video Players on Facebook

By David Wayne

An HD video creates a large file that can take time to upload.
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Embedding a YouTube video player on a Facebook page is different than embedding one on a personal website because Facebook doesn't expose its source code to users. Google, the company that owns and maintains YouTube, makes sharing YouTube videos simple by providing page links to copy and paste into emails, HTML code, Facebook posts and many websites. When you paste a link into a Facebook post, the video is displayed within the post and can be played, paused and scanned using the embedded playback controls.

Step 1

Visit the YouTube page of a video you would like to embed (link in Resources). Click “Pause” if you don't want to watch the video while embedding it on Facebook.

Step 2

Click “Share” to view the video's sharing options. A list of social media logos are displayed next to the video's page link. Click the “Facebook” logo to embed the video on your Facebook wall. You are prompted to sign in to your account and confirm your choice. Click “Share” to embed the video player on your wall. Visitors to your Facebook page can play the video from its embedded location or switch to fullscreen mode using the playback controls.

Step 3

Click the page link inside the text box under Share This Video to select the link, then press “Ctrl-C” to copy the text. Optionally, pause the video at your preferred starting point and select the “Start At” option before copying the link. After embedding the video, it plays from the selected starting point, although viewers can watch the video from the beginning by clicking the seek bar.

Step 4

Visit Facebook and sign in to your account (link in Resources). Click inside the new post box and press “Ctrl-V” to paste the YouTube video link into a new post. Add any information you would like to the post, such as a description of the video, and click “Post.” The post appears at the top of your Facebook page, and a still image from the YouTube video is visible within the post. Click the image to open the YouTube video player inside the post. The video automatically starts playing from your selected starting point, and you can use the embedded playback controls to change the video resolution, switch to fullscreen mode or watch the video on YouTube.

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