You might think that hosting your own videos is a good way to save money and time when uploading videos, but depending on how you look at it, you could be wrong. 

There are other options besides self-hosting that can give you the results you’re after — with fewer downsides involved. 

In this article, we’ll compare embedded vs. self-hosted videos and why in general, you should avoid hosting your own videos. Let’s get right into it.

9 Reasons Self-Hosting Video Is a Bad Idea

The following are 9 reasons why you should avoid hosting your own video content for business.

1. Poor User Experience (UX)

At the end of the day, this is the most important factor in whether a person decides to stay on your website or leave, and ultimately whether they will come back in the future.

If visitors have anything but a great experience, chances are they will be gone, never to be seen again.

In a way, this is why video conferencing software is constantly upping their user experience to provide their customers with the most reliable service. 

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By self-hosting your own videos, you increase the chances that the user will have a poor experience on your site due to the various factors that could go wrong.

2. Limits on File Size and Storage Space

When you self-host a video, there are limitations to the size of your file and how much space you have available. It’s simple mathematics, and as a result, users might experience choppy or “laggy” video playback with self-hosting. This is something that they won’t get with videos that are kept on third-party websites. 

This also affects the duration of the video, which is usually limited to a set number of minutes with self-hosting (depending on the site provider).

Self-hosting also puts a restriction on the number of videos you can have due to storage, and that can affect how many options you have when it comes to using videos to promote your business ideas. You may only be able to get a few video clips uploaded, or worse, you may not be able to show any videos at all. 

That’s no good for business because it limits your marketing potential. You either have to buy more space or move to another hosting provider, neither of which is an appealing prospect.

What’s the point of taking the time to make your videos look professional, only to be limited by technical limitations when hosting them?

3. Low Video Quality and High Bandwidth Costs

Self-hosted videos are always going to be lower quality than hosted videos because the file might have to be downloaded before it can be played by your viewer — this takes time and space.

On the other hand, hosting companies use CDN servers to play your videos, so all your viewers need is an internet connection to watch it — no downloading required. This also helps with those who have slow connections or weak internet, like travelers using cell phones. 

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When it comes to bandwidth costs on your website, hosting videos yourself is not cheap. 

4. No Customer Support for Customization or Troubleshooting

If you can’t get your video to play on a website properly, then who do you call? If it’s self-hosted, then too bad for you — it’s up to you or an IT expert to fix the problem. 

When videos are hosted by a third-party company, they provide support so that you can get your video to work properly if something goes wrong.

Also, if you have specific features that you require in your situation, then you can always ask for those features to be added. That’s not usually something that would happen from a self-hosted solution. 

Another thing to consider is that the hosting company has a better idea of what your viewers want and how to give it to them because they see different use cases every single day. 

5. Longer Page Load Times

Page loading time is a super important factor in 2021. It’s not just an option to have a fast website anymore, it’s now become critical to your business success. 

One way that you can guarantee a slow-loading site is by hosting the videos yourself. 

You also increase the load times by having to download the videos before they can be viewed, and watching a video takes more bandwidth than just loading text or an image.

The longer the loading time, the higher the chances that users will bounce away from your website.

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Companies who host videos will have faster-loading videos than those who host them themselves, which means faster loading page times.

You might be using videos as a business owner or even as part of your affiliate marketing toolbox — no matter the reason, long page loading times will scare off people before they can consume your online message.

6. Tedious Video File Conversion Process

When you self-host your videos, you have to convert every video into a file size and format that is compatible with your website to make it viewable. 

This means you will need software to resize, compress and convert the file before putting it on your site. You also have to do this for every single video that you want people to watch on your site.

Now, if you have an IT guy or gal on staff, then this might not be a big deal, but if not, it can quickly become a time-consuming task. 

Getting things done is all about focusing on the things that matter, and with so much remote work happening in this day and age, the last thing you’d want to do is get yourself or others (who might not even be in the same physical location) wasting time having to learn about file types, sizes, extensions and other jargon that you’ll need to become familiar with — if you decide to self-host videos.

This is simply not an issue when you use a third-party website to host your videos since they will take care of the conversion process before pushing your video live. All you would need to do is upload the file and then, they will take care of the rest.

7. Clunky Code

When it comes to the code of your website, this is the backbone of your online business, and it needs to be done just right. The last thing you want is to have sloppy, inefficient code or one that loads slowly because it contains self-hosted videos. 

Not only does this affect how visitors see your website, but it also affects any SEO that you’ve done.

 

This is another reason why it makes sense to use a professional hosting company for your videos; they will have faster, cleaner code, and they are more likely to know how to optimize such videos for search engines — allowing you to simply fill in the blanks with relevant information.

If you decide to go via the self-hosted route, it would be a good idea to know web coding, which has a pretty steep learning curve. However, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this code work by yourself, then you can also hire someone who does, though it’s going to cost a lot more than just simply paying for hosted video services.

8. Risk of Piracy

Piracy is a huge issue right now. Many companies are struggling with it, especially with the rise of streaming sites. Though you may not have something that would get stolen, it’s always best to play it safe than sorry. 

Hosting your video on your own website means that anyone can just steal your videos by downloading them or by simply viewing your code.

Now, if you want to host some family pictures or things that aren’t meant to be shared, then this doesn’t matter. But, if you have any kind of information about how to do something and want people to pay for it, then you could be giving that away for free — if anyone can just view the code.

9. Password protection and viewer permissions create new problems

A reputable hosting company will protect your video with the right technology so only authorized accounts see it, and they also give you secure download links to prevent people from converting your videos into a file format that is easier to distribute. 

Having your video self-hosted means you have to provide secure download links yourself, which is more work on your part. 

Since you are hosting your videos on your website, you will need to password protect the videos (if it contains anything of value). This means that people who want to know how to do something or want to see a video that costs money, will then have to sign up for some kind of subscription.

This is all well and good, however, by having your videos hosted on your site, you are adding another potential source of things going wrong. 

Video Hosting Options To Consider

If you want to use a third-party site that has been set up appropriately to host videos, these are the video hosting platforms that we suggest.

1. YouTube

YouTube is the most popular hosting site for a reason: they have the largest user base (2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube each month), and it’s very easy to get started with uploading videos.

You can upload your video once and be able to share it on all kinds of social media platforms with just one link. In addition to this, YouTube is also free, so you won’t spend any money at all. 

You can see how many views your video has been getting over time just by logging in with the same email address you used when you created the account. The stats offered are quite helpful when it comes to user research because they tell exactly who watches your videos and where they come from. 

In addition to this, Youtube also makes it very easy to create secret links to your video so you can share it with a select audience without letting the whole world see it.

2. Wave.video 

Wave.video is one of the most robust and convenient video hosting solutions out there. With Wave.video, you can host videos and easily embed them on blog posts, landing pages, or share directly via a link.

From a fully customizable player to ad-free hosting, Wave.video offers many benefits that can guarantee a smooth watching experience to your viewers. Unlike free video hosting sites like YouTube, Wave.video doesn’t allow random ads and suggested videos to pop up over your content.

More so, Wave.video automatically creates a video landing page for every hosted video. You can add a heading, description, and clickable button to a video landing page and share it with your audience.

3. Vimeo

Vimeo has fewer users than YouTube but still has a big enough user base that you’ll be able to reach many people as well.

The downside to Vimeo is that they don’t have as many features for video sharing and analytics, so you will get less data on how your videos are performing.

Vimeo is a video hosting site that requires some setup to make it work in the ways you want. The great thing about Vimeo is that oftentimes, they offer fewer ads than YouTube does because there’s no advertising revenue involved (depending on the membership level the user is at).

In addition to this, they also support direct downloads of videos, so if someone wants to download your file (with your permission) they will be able to do that. 

4. Facebook

Using Facebook to host your videos is a great way to get your content shared on this social media platform because if you create interesting videos, people will share them, and potentially, they’ll go viral. 

Facebook is also free, so there’s no reason not to do it. 

The only problem with using Facebook for video hosting is that they aren’t as professional as other video hosting websites. 

They also don’t show a lot of statistics and don’t give you any detailed info about how your videos are performing.

If you have a Facebook group, then uploading videos to Facebook and sharing them in that group can get you a lot of views as well. This is a good way for you to go granular based on your specific video needs.

The Pros of Self-hosting Video Content

There are some instances where self-hosting videos can be a good idea, especially if you’re looking to save money or already have a website in place.

Sometimes, there is no point in paying someone else to host your content when you can just do it yourself; however, you need to be ready for your site to slow down significantly.

If site speed is not a concern of yours, then consider hosting videos on your own website.

Depending on what kind of business you’re running, hosting your videos can also save you money because using the services provided by video-hosting websites is not always free (even though there’s a free plan for all of the websites mentioned above). 

When a company decides they want to have their full-length video hosted by YouTube or Vimeo, it could also have advertising that is placed at the beginning, during, or at the end of the video.

However, when you host videos yourself, then you have full control of this aspect. This allows you more control with fewer short-term hassles.

Another reason to self-host your videos could be related to branding. You can include all sorts of self-promotion without having to worry about your videos being removed — even though this is something that wouldn’t typically happen with third-party websites (unless you go overboard). 

Closing Thoughts About Self-Hosting Video Content

In conclusion, self-hosting videos might work in some situations — but not in others.

It’s important to understand what your requirements are and find the best solution for yourself. 

When it comes to hosting videos on third-party websites, we recommend Wave.video, since it offers a great solution that doesn’t break the bank and allows you the flexibility you need.

We hope that by going through the above points, you’re that much closer to finding the perfect video hosting solution.

About the author: Neal Taparia is the co-founder of Imagine Easy Solutions, a portfolio of online educational services that reached over 30 million students yearly. Neal sold the business to Chegg (NYSE: CHGG), where he stayed there as an executive for three years. He’s now pursuing a new initiative, Solitaired, which ties classical games with memory and attention training.