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Where to Host Videos

Even though video files can be uploaded to a site’s Media folder, the max file size is 64MB. This alone will likely prevent you from uploading video to your website. It is also recommended that you host your videos on a server specifically set up to stream media for a better user experience. The most commonly used video hosting platforms used at the School of Medicine are Panopto, HeelStream, YouTube, and Vimeo.

Uploaded

An uploaded video is one that is uploaded to your website’s Media folder. Small audio and video files can be uploaded here but large ones cannot since the max file size of any media file is 64 MB.

External Hosting Services

Videos can be hosted on external video hosting service such as Panopto, YouTube, and Vimeo. Code from the hosting environment can be copied and then pasted, or “embedded,” into a page or post. That embedded code will display the video on your website.


Embedded vs. Linked

Linked

The standard link method can be used to link to videos. Please see our documentation on how to create links for instructions.

Embedded

Code from whichever video hosting environment you use can be copied and then pasted, or embedded, into a page or post. That embedded code will display the video on your web page.


Video Hosting Options

Panopto

Panopto is UNC’s centrally supported video storage and management system. The University licenses Panopto Enterprise. This streaming media service is free.

  • Panopto supports a broad range of video file formats, including AVI, MP4, MPG, WMV, MOV, QT, ASF, 3GP, WMA, MP3, M4V, and more.
  • No patient Protected Health Information (PHI) can be included in UNC Panopto recordings.
Panopto Documentation and Resources  Free Panopto Training

HeelStream

HeelStream is no longer available. In the spring of 2021, Panopto purchased Ensemble Video, the company behind our School of Medicine HeelStream streaming media service. Panopto is now the video hosting environment supported by UNC. All videos that were hosted in HeelStream were migrated to Panopto in the Spring/Summer of 2022.

Learn How To Find Old HeelStream Embed Code That Needs To Be Replaced

Other Options

Other free streaming media services include sites like YouTube and Vimeo. However, with these sites, you don’t have control of your visitor’s experience. Ads may appear in your videos and these websites will suggest other content to viewers that may or may not be appropriate.

Learn How to Embed a YouTube Video

Accessibility Requirements

As video usage continues to grow, so does the importance of video accessibility. All pre-recorded videos that are on a UNC websites must be captioned and when appropriate, have audio descriptions and/or a text transcript. These tools help make videos and their content more accessible to both people and search engines. Also, if an iframe is used to embed a video, the code should include a title attribute. If it does not contain one, one should be added.

Captions

Captioning a video has many benefits including:

  1. Accessibility to deaf or hard of hearing viewers.
  2. A necessity in sound-sensitive environments or when users have their computers muted.
  3. Increased search engine optimization.

CaptionsBest Practices

  • All videos with audio on UNC websites must be captioned. Anything said in multimedia must be said in the captioning, and vice versa. Any information displayed solely visually should also be available in audio and text form.
  • Plan ahead when you are creating videos to include transcripts and captioning as part of the process.
  • Auto-play: Don’t auto-play videos and audio. People using screen readers navigate by listening, so any sound playing when the page loads will interfere with their experience. Audio or video should only be initiated by an action taken by the user.
  • All video controls should be accessible via the keyboard.
  • Alerts: Don’t rely on sounds to convey information, like an “alert” noise.

Free Training

UNC’s Digital Accessibility Office offers a free Captioning course that shows users the ins and outs of video captioning including best practices.

Discounted Captioning Service

UNC’s Digital Accessibility Office (DAO) has a campus contract with 3Play Media. This means that all departments have access to 3Play Media’s services and features at a discounted price. For more information, see the DAO’s 3Play Media Captioning Services page.

Add a Title Attribute to an Iframe

Videos are often embed on a web page using an iframe. For accessibility reasons, you should always include a title attribute for an <iframe>. This is used by screen readers to read what the content of the iframe is. For example, the iframe code from Panopto does not include the title attribute by default so you will need to add one. Simply add title="Add your descriptive title here" to the iFrame code. Be sure you replace Add your descriptive title here, with a title that properly describes the contents of the iframe.


Policies and Resources

  • Site authors and editors should familiarize themselves with the policies for recording.
  • Recording Release Form – People not affiliated with the School of Medicine and who are being recorded (except audience), must give written consent.
  • See the DAO’s Video and Audio Resources page for more information about captioning and related services.