When a visitor lands on your website, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. Figuring out how to add a WordPress video background is a great way to make a good first impression.
It’s an impactful way to engage your visitors and amplify your brand message.
In this post, we will show you how to add a fullscreen video background in WordPress. Plus, we will offer a few tips to help you with creating a video background.
Where to Source Your Video Background?
Your video background will receive a high volume of traffic since it’s on your homepage. As a result, you’ll want it to stand out and excite your visitors. If you have room in your budget, contact a local videographer to shoot a video for your business. Make sure to give the freelancer clear guidelines to ensure it meets your brand’s standards.
No time or money to shoot a video? No problem. You can find high-quality, royalty-free video footage on websites like Videvo and Video Blocks. With multiple industry categories, you can search for the right video that fits your visitors.
Use the following jump-links to navigate to any plugin in particular, or just keep scrolling.
- mb.YTPlayer for Background Videos
- Video Background
- Elementor
- Image & Video FullScreen Background
- Advanced WordPress Backgrounds
5 Plugins to Add Fullscreen Video Background in WordPress
Custom coding is always an option to add your video background. But if you’re short on time or don’t have the technical skills, another option is to use plugins. Here are five plugins you can use to make the process simple.
1. mb.YTPlayer for Background Videos
With a few simple steps, this plugin lets you add a YouTube video as the background for your website. You can activate it for any page on your site, including posts.
The Plus version of the plugin offers more features, including the ability to set the video start point, control the starting audio volume, and track the video views on Google Analytics. Follow the setup instructions below.
- Install and activate mb.YTPlayer for Background Videos.
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to mb.ideas > YT player.
- Activate the background video by toggling the switch on. (It will turn green.)
- Add the YouTube URL of your video and configure any desired settings.
- Your video background will look like this:
What We Like: WPmBYT Player stands out with its full-featured player options, including customization of video player dimensions, colors, autoplay function, and playlist display.
2. Video Background
Video Background is a simple plugin for adding a video background anywhere on your WordPress website. Additional features include adding a color overlay, enabling looping, and providing a tap-to-unmute button for visitors. In just five minutes, you can create a stunning background.
What We Like: Video Background allow users to add video backgrounds to any HTML element easily, providing a seamless and immersive experience for visitors while still ensuring fast load times.
3. Elementor
Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder for creating beautiful websites. With no coding skills required, you can select a theme with a video background option. The interface is fun and easy to work with and reduces the time it takes to customize your site. Watch this tutorial to learn how to add a video background with Elementor.
What We Like: Elementor is a full fledged page builder that will give you options for customization beyond just video backgrounds.
4. Image & Video FullScreen Background
This premium plugin can add image or video backgrounds to your WordPress website. Image & Video FullScreen Background is a highly customizable tool and it adapts to the resolution of your visitors’ browser and device. You can change video parameters to fit the color and dimensions of your site. You’ll definitely keep visitors engaged with this plugin. Check out a live preview here.
What We Like: Users can choose from a variety of customization options, such as different styles for the video player, easing for transitions, and even the ability to display images and videos randomly.
5. Advanced WordPress Backgrounds
Not only does Advanced WordPress Backgrounds offer a variety of options for different background types, including images and videos, but it also provides advanced customization options, such as unique backgrounds for different parts of a page, controlled by easy-to-use CSS selectors.
The preview feature built into Advanced Backgrounds allows users to easily preview their changes in real-time, ensuring that every change to their website's background is perfect before making it live.
What We Like: With this plugin, you can easily add image parallax scrolling effects, video backgrounds, and hover backgrounds to your website. There’s also the option of full-width, full-height, or fullscreen rows.
Adding a Fullscreen Video Background in WordPress
Video backgrounds can offer a positive user experience. Here are a few tips to consider when creating a video background:
- Upload a quality video with high resolution.
- Compress your video to increase page load speed.
- Keep the video length under one minute.
- Set a fallback image background for browsers that don't render videos.
- Avoid auto-playing the video with sound. Instead, give visitors the option to enable the video sound.
A video background is an effective tool for immediately getting your visitors’ attention. It also can help your business convey its brand message. If custom coding isn’t for you, use plugins to add a fullscreen video background to your site.
