PDF Video – A Short Guide on How to Make it

A picture is often said to be worth a thousand words, but in today’s world, a video is far more valuable. In part because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s often estimated that video content accounts for two-thirds of all data sent by a typical user. If you work with PDF documents, you may want to make them interactive by incorporating rich media content such as YouTube video content.

An interactive PDF with videos aids the reader’s comprehension of the text. Your PDF file can be transformed into a multimedia communication tool that increases interest and engagement by embedding video files, audio files, and interactive material.

This article will teach you how to embed video in PDF, and publish interactive videos in the form of a PDF flip book like in the example below:

Video embedded in PDF file example

The best tool to add video to a PDF file

Publuu flipbook maker enables you to create stunningly realistic flipbooks online. You can also embed video in PDF files to attract readers and show them facts that boring text cannot convey.

Publuu allows you to embed a video from YouTube or Vimeo on any PDF page. It could be a separate PDF video pop-up window opened by clicking an animated hotspot, or it could be a player built into your flipbook that appears to be an integral part of it and is displayed on the page instead of a static image.

Remember to upload the video file you want to include in your PDF flipbook to YouTube or Vimeo first. You must upload it to the appropriate service following the instructions provided by these companies.

How to embed a video to your PDF file ?

Open a free Publuu account and upload your PDF file in which you want to embed the video. Then choose “add hotspot” option from your flipbook menu.

Go to the page where you want to add video and select the area to embed videos. You can embed video content over a static illustration or free space. See how our users do it in this example below. Switch to full screen view ( icon in the bottom right ) if you can’t see the hotspot in this window size.

MAKE YOUR OWN

If you want to insert video using the Vimeo or YouTube video link, paste the link. The selected area should now display the thumbnail of the video file you just added. On the right-handed panel, you can select whether you want to embed video as a part of the page, or as a pop-up hotspot

You can choose whether the user will be able to play and stop the embedded video on their own by toggling the option SHOW PLAYER CONTROLS. Using the START AT field, you can also set the time when your video starts.

You can also resize your video by dragging the blue corners or move it all over the page.

How to add a video in pop-up window

If you want to add a video that plays in a pop-up window, follow the instructions to embed video content as above. When you embed video in pdf using Publuu flipbook maker it will appear by default as an inline window – to change it into a hotspot, click the HOTSPOT button on the right-hand panel.

The embedded video will turn into a button – a hotspot you can place anywhere on the page. When your reader clicks the button on the PDF page, a video will appear and start playing.

You can customize the color of the hotspot, or transform it into an active area – a link to the video popup. The Active Area will be a transparent rectangle that pulsates to draw the attention of your viewer – you can place it on any image or text which will open the video tab.

How to add video to your PDF file with Adobe?

In theory, you can easily embed video content in any PDF file – but in practice, this is more trouble than it’s worth. Many ways to embed video in pdf required Adobe Flash – which is now depreciated software.

Standards like Adobe Media Encoder let you embed videos in PDF files directly using Adobe Acrobat. You can use a PDF editor to add video files directly to the PDF file. To do so, you should download the video files from YouTube and embed it in the PDF, using an app like Adobe Acrobat.

You can use other PDF editor apps to add rich media content – you can add video links that link to the YouTube content, but only Adobe Acrobat lets you embed video in pdf.

Note that this requires literally merging the video with the PDF file: large media files increase the size of the PDF document, so you might not be able to e-mail it, for example.

To embed video in PDF using Adobe Acrobat Pro, open the PDF, then click “More Tools – Create and Edit – Rich media”. Remember that Adobe Acrobat DC is not the same as Adobe Reader – the latter is a free PDF reader app and does not let you edit files in PDF format.

Click the “Add video” option, choose the area for embedding video content, and paste the link or choose the file in a separate window.

You might also be interested in:
How To Send Large Files Via Email?
How to create a URL link for a PDF document
Interactive PDF Examples

Ola Swiderska Author View profile

Aesthetics and minimalism enthusiast. Loves to explore the world, and travel is the meaning of her life. Amateur photographer and passionate about dogs. At work, she points her energy into crafting content that reflects her interest in literature and design.