Videos are a great way to share information, which is one of the reasons they're so popular. As such, it's no wonder that having videos on your website is a common occurrence.
Those who want videos on their site often choose between two methods: embedding the video or hosting it themselves.
While hosting your own videos is definitely a viable option, embedding your videos is a great way to conserve your server bandwidth (especially for accounts with less resources to spare).
Which is best for you? Well, here's what you need to consider.
Hosting Videos
Best for: Accounts with ample amounts of bandwidth
Tip: Unsure what your bandwidth usage looks like? Check out your account bandwidth stats by going to the Site Statistics tab in your Account Control Center.
Hosting the video yourself means that the video is stored on your server. So every time someone visits your page, your hosting server is the one responsible for serving up the video content. When someone watches the video, your server is the one behind the scenes making it happen. There's nothing wrong with this, as long as your server has enough resources to handle it.
That's because videos can take up a massive amount of bandwidth to play. If you host the video yourself, your server is the one who needs to deliver the bandwidth.
If you're using a CMS, you might not even realize your hosting account is the one supplying the power. But videos uploaded to WordPress media library or other CMS, pull on your server resources just like a video uploaded directly to your Web file directory.
Embedding Videos
Best for: Accounts that want to conserve bandwidth usage
On the other hand, embedding videos means that the video is hosted elsewhere - like on YouTube or Vimeo. Then you embed the video link into your page. Embedding your video means the majority of the bandwidth requirements are met by the third-party provider you're using. In the case of free services like Youtube, this means that you're taking that extra burden off of your server for free.
Tip: Be sure to check the third-party provider's Terms of Service to make sure they are a good fit for your site.