Manage VideoPress privacy settings

VideoPress gives you control over who can view, share, and download your videos. In this guide, you will learn how to set video privacy and choose an audience rating.

You can set each video to be public, private, or use your site’s default privacy setting. Follow these steps to set your video’s privacy:

1. Select the VideoPress block, then open the block settings sidebar.
   • If you do not see the sidebar, click the Settings icon in the top-right corner.
2. Scroll to the “Privacy and rating” section.
3. Under Privacy, choose one of the following:
   • Public: Anyone can view and share the video.
   • Private: Only logged-in users with access to your site can view the video. The share menu is hidden for private videos.
   • Site default: The video follows your site’s overall privacy setting.
4. Click Save or Publish to apply your changes.

You can also set privacy and rating from the VideoPress dashboard:

1. Navigate to Jetpack → VideoPress, then click the Library tab.
2. Select a video to open its details.
3. Set the Privacy (Public, Private, or Site default) and, if needed, choose a Rating.
4. Click Save.

You can change the privacy setting for several videos at once from the Library tab of the VideoPress dashboard.

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → VideoPress, then click the Library tab.
3. Select the checkbox in the top-left of each video you want to update. A selection toolbar appears at the top of the library.
4. In the toolbar, choose a privacy action:
   • “Make public”: Anyone can view the videos.
   • “Make private”: Only logged-in users with access to your site can view the videos.
   • “Reset to site default”: The videos follow your site’s default privacy setting. This option will only appear if the videos selected have a privacy setting different from the site default.

Bulk privacy actions apply only to videos hosted on VideoPress. Local videos and videos that are still uploading are not included.

Audience ratings help you indicate the appropriate age group for your video content. Follow these steps to apply an audience rating:

1. Select the VideoPress block, then open the block settings sidebar.
   • If you do not see the sidebar, click the Settings icon in the top-right corner.
2. Scroll to the “Privacy and rating” section.
3. In the Rating drop-down, choose the rating that best fits your video:
   • G: General audiences.
   • PG-13: Parental guidance suggested.
   • R: Restricted to mature audiences.
4. Click Save or Publish to apply your changes.

Audience ratings do not restrict access, but help inform viewers about the content’s suitability.

You can also choose a rating in the VideoPress dashboard when you open a video’s details in the Library tab.

This section of the guide applies to sites with the WordPress.com Business and Commerce plan. If you have a Business plan, make sure to activate it. For free sites and sites on the Personal and Premium plans, upgrade your plan to access this feature.

You can restrict VideoPress videos to site members only, while keeping your website public. Once you activate the setting, only logged-in site members will be able to play your videos.

To restrict all uploaded videos to site members only:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → VideoPress then select the Settings tab.
3. Enable “Only logged-in users can play your videos” to restrict access to all uploaded videos.

Any user role (including the basic Subscriber or Viewer role) can view VideoPress videos when the privacy setting is enabled, as long as they are logged in as a registered user of your WordPress.com site.

Videos that are contained on a private site or explicitly flagged as private will only be accessible to authenticated site visitors from within the site’s content. If you receive an “Unauthorized” message, please ensure you are signed in with an account that has access to the site where the video was uploaded.

An “Unauthorized” message may also appear if a video has been blocked due to a violation of our Terms of Service.