8 great ways to share your videos with friends, family, and the world
If you've recorded a lot of video, chances are good that you'd like to share it with other people. Fortunately, you've got lots of options, and we describe them for you here. One or more of these choices is likely to be the method that'll work for you.
Here are some different ways that you can share your videos today.
DVD-Video disc
One popular way to share videos is to copy them to a DVD-Video disc that DVD players can play. This option works well if you want your family and friends to be able to watch your videos on TV using a regular DVD player or on a computer (using software that can play DVDs). If your family and friends don't live nearby, you can send them the DVD in the mail.
If your computer is running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you can use Windows DVD Maker to burn your videos to a DVD-Video disc. For more information about burning videos to a DVD-Video disc using Windows DVD Maker, see Burn a DVD-Video disc.
If you don't have Windows DVD Maker or you need more advanced features, such as having more control over how chapters are created or the appearance of the DVD menu, you can choose to use other DVD burning software. You can search for
DVD-burning software by going to the Windows Marketplace website and searching for "burn DVD."
For information about playing DVD-Video discs on your computer, see Overview: Playing videos and DVDs.
Data DVD or CD
If being able to have your videos played on TV is not a key requirement for you, you can burn your video to a data DVD or data CD instead. These types of discs are a bit easier to create than DVD-Video discs. Data DVDs and CDs are usually only playable on computers.
For information about burning a data DVD or data CD using different features that come with Windows Vista, see the following topics. Each feature offers different benefits, but all of them will help you accomplish similar tasks.
For information about playing the videos you've burned using Windows Vista, see
Overview: Playing videos and DVDs.
Video sharing website
You can share your videos by uploading them to a video sharing website, such as YouTube or MSN Soapbox. To learn how to share videos on MSN Soapbox, see Your band on the web (in which sharing a music video is used as an example).
This is a good option if you and the people you want to share with have fast broadband connections that improve the experience of watching videos over the Internet (compared to a slower dial-up connection). Sharing your videos on a video sharing website is a good option if you don't want to spend time creating and mailing a bunch of DVDs or CDs.
After you've uploaded your video, you can send a link to the videos to your friends in e‑mail, and they can watch your video using their web browser. The video is stored on the video sharing website and other people can link to your video too if they want. By default, most sites will let anybody in the world view your uploaded videos. If you're concerned about your privacy, check to see if the site allows you to limit access to your videos to just the people that you specify.
E‑mail
You can attach a video file to an e‑mail message, and then send that e‑mail message to other people. Sharing this way works well for short video files that are small in size, such as those that you might have recorded using your digital camera or mobile phone. Some e‑mail providers place a file size limit on e‑mail attachments, so you should make sure that the video file does not exceed that limit. Check the documentation for your e‑mail provider to learn more about file size limits for e‑mail attachments.
You can send a video as an e‑mail attachment by choosing the E‑mail option when publishing a video in Windows Movie Maker. For more information about publishing a video in Windows Movie Maker, see Publish a movie in Windows Movie Maker.
The recipient of the e‑mail message can open the e‑mail message, and then download and play the attached video file in a media player on their computer. For information about playing videos on your computer, see Overview: Playing videos and DVDs.
Instant messaging
Similar to sending a video in an e‑mail message, you can also send a small video file in many instant messaging programs. As with e‑mail, this works well for small video files that you might record using your digital camera or mobile phone.
To attach a video file to an instant message, open your instant messaging program, attach the video file, and then send it to the person that you are instant messaging with. Similar to sending a video file as an attachment to an e‑mail message, check for any file size limits that might exist when sending attachments using your instant messaging program.
There are many instant messaging programs that you can use today. You can search for an instant messaging program by going to the Windows Marketplace website and searching for "instant message."
The person who you are instant messaging with can then download the video file and watch it in a media player on their computer. For information about playing videos in Windows Vista, see Overview: Playing videos and DVDs.
Shared folders over the Internet
You can also share videos by installing software that lets your friends access a specific folder on your computer over the Internet. After configuring the software, any video you put in that folder becomes available to all of the people that you've chosen to give access to. Your friends can then play any of those videos on their own computers. There are a variety or programs that allow you share folders with others over the Internet, including FolderShare and Windows Live Messenger (to name just a couple).
Flash memory card or USB flash drive
If you are going to see the people you want to share with in person, you might want to copy your videos to a flash memory card or USB flash drive. To copy your video files to the flash memory card or USB flash drive, insert the memory card into a compatible memory card reader (or insert the USB flash drive into a USB port on your computer), and then copy the video files to the flash memory card or drive. For more about copying files or folders, see Copy a file or folder.
To play the video, bring the flash memory card or USB flash drive to your friends and family, insert the flash memory card into a compatible flash memory card reader (or insert the USB flash drive into a USB port on their computer), and then play the video file. For more information about playing videos in Windows Vista, see Overview: Playing videos and DVDs.
Home network
In addition to sharing videos with people around the world, you can use Windows Vista and a variety of devices to share your videos with family and friends throughout your home over your home network.
To get started learning about home networking, see the list of home networking Help and Support topics in Home networking: recommended links.
If you've already got your home network set up, you can get started learning more about sharing and playing video files over it by reading these topics:
Broadband connection
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Broadband connection
A high-speed Internet connection. Broadband connections are typically 256 kilobytes per second (KBps) or faster. Broadband includes DSL and cable modem service.
USB flash drive
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USB flash drive
A small device used to store information. USB flash drives plug into computer USB ports so you can copy information to or from them, making it easy to share and transport information.
Flash memory card
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Flash memory card
A device used by many digital cameras to store pictures and video. Flash memory cards store computer information such as text, pictures, and music, and can be copied, erased, and used many times.
Help and How-to
