{"id":6520,"date":"2026-02-15T15:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/?post_type=jetpack-portfolio&#038;p=6520"},"modified":"2026-02-15T15:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:00:16","slug":"media","status":"publish","type":"jetpack-portfolio","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/portfolio\/media\/","title":{"rendered":"Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>WordPress can store many types of media files, but whether they&nbsp;<em>play<\/em>&nbsp;in a visitor\u2019s browser depends on the&nbsp;<strong>format and codec<\/strong>, not just the file extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>A media file has two parts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Container<\/strong>&nbsp;(the file type, e.g.&nbsp;<code>.mp4<\/code>,&nbsp;<code>.mov<\/code>,&nbsp;<code>.m4a<\/code>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Codec<\/strong>&nbsp;(how the video or audio is compressed, e.g. H.264, H.265, AAC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Browsers support different codecs. For example, a&nbsp;<code>.mov<\/code>&nbsp;file using the H.265 (HEVC) codec may play in Safari but fail in Chrome or Firefox. The file extension alone does not guarantee compatibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, audio files such as&nbsp;<code>.m4a<\/code>&nbsp;must contain a recognised audio codec (typically AAC or ALAC). If the codec is missing, unusual, or not declared correctly, WordPress may refuse the upload or browsers may not play it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best Practice <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To make sure your media works on as many devices and browsers as possible:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Video:<\/strong>&nbsp;Upload files saved as&nbsp;<strong>.mp4<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Audio:<\/strong>&nbsp;Upload files saved as&nbsp;<strong>.mp3<\/strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<strong>.m4a<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Images:<\/strong>&nbsp;Upload&nbsp;<strong>.jpg<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>.png<\/strong>, or&nbsp;<strong>.webp<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If a file will not upload or will not play:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Try exporting or saving it again as&nbsp;<strong>.mp4<\/strong>&nbsp;(for video) or&nbsp;<strong>.mp3<\/strong>&nbsp;(for audio).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you recorded it on a phone and it doesn\u2019t work, use your device\u2019s&nbsp;<strong>\u201cShare\u201d \u2192 \u201cSave as\u2026\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<strong>\u201cExport\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;option to create a more compatible version.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you downloaded it from somewhere else and it doesn\u2019t work, the file may not be in a web-friendly format. Ask the person who created it for an&nbsp;<strong>.mp4<\/strong>&nbsp;(video) or&nbsp;<strong>.mp3<\/strong>&nbsp;(audio) version.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In general, if you stick to&nbsp;<strong>.mp4 for video<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>.mp3 for audio<\/strong>, you will avoid most problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For widest compatibility across devices and browsers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Video:<\/strong>\u00a0<code>.mp4<\/code>\u00a0using H.264 video + AAC audio<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Audio:<\/strong>\u00a0<code>.mp3<\/code>\u00a0or\u00a0<code>.m4a<\/code>\u00a0using AAC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These formats are widely supported and likely to remain so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If media does not play:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Check the codec (not just the extension).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Re-encode the file into a widely supported format.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoid relying on browser-specific formats.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WordPress can store many types of media files, but whether they&nbsp;play&nbsp;in a visitor\u2019s browser depends on the&nbsp;format and codec, not just the file extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"jetpack-portfolio-type":[298056],"jetpack-portfolio-tag":[],"class_list":["post-6520","jetpack-portfolio","type-jetpack-portfolio","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","jetpack-portfolio-type-faq"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/6520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/6520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6521,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/6520\/revisions\/6521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-type?post=6520"},{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/glowbloghelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-tag?post=6520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}