Embedding a video into a web page used to be a real challenge in the early days of the web. You had different formats to chose from, other visitors might not have the proper software installed to see the video, and bandwidth was still limited, as many people were still on dialup. Fast forward to 2011. Most people now have broadband, and although there are still many video formats, the most commonly used method to embed video today is via the Flash player and an .flv file which is provided via an external host, such as YouTube.
On a side note, if you are interested in viewing HTML5-based videos on YouTube, we have written an article specifically about the topic, including specific directions for doing so. And if you are interested in editing YouTube videos and adding annotations, we have an article for that as well.
YouTube Videos On Your SiteNow, embedding a video onto a web page becomes as easy as cutting and pasting. When you visit a site that hosts videos, such as YouTube, you are presented with a video box on the page. You can watch the video directly on the page, or the Flash player allows you to view the video full screen, just by clicking a button on the player. How much does it cost you to add a video from YouTube to your site? Nada--nothing. They provide the service, and they also provide the bandwidth, so the video is hosted on their servers and uses their bandwidth! Hard to beat a deal like that!
Here's an example of a YouTube video that is directly embedded into this page.
