Sharing pre-recorded videos in Sessions

  • Updated

Sharing pre-recorded content is a great way to enhance your live broadcast. This guide explains how to switch from a live video to a pre-recorded video in a Session.

Using YouTube sharing

If your video is hosted on YouTube, you can use the YouTube sharing feature to share your video while doing a live presentation. This option is enabled by default in Webinar events.

To enable this feature a Session in a multi-track event:

  1. Go to Event Dashboard > Venue > Sessions (or to Event Dashboard > Content > Sessions for Onsite events).
  2. Create a new Session or edit an existing one.
  3. In the Session settings, under Video content, select the Enable YouTube sharing check box.
  4. Once ready, click Save.

To share a YouTube video in a Session:

  1. Open the Share menu and click YouTube video.
    Note: Organizers and Moderators can share content without activating their own audio and video on screen. The Share menu option stays accessible at all times.


  2. In the Share YouTube video window, add your YouTube video URL.
    Important: Be sure to use a video that is Public or Unlisted and not Private, as otherwise it will not work.


  3. Click Share Video.
    ✔ The video will display on the screen and start playing automatically for all attendees watching your Session. You have full control over your video: pause it, increase the playback speed, enable subtitles or scroll forward.


  4. To remove the video, open the Share menu and click Stop Sharing.

Important notes:

  • In a Moderated Session, only the Organizers & Moderators can use the YouTube sharing feature, whereas in an Open Session, anyone sharing their audio and video can share a YouTube video.
  • It's recommended that the user sharing the YouTube video wears headphones and/or mutes themselves while the video is playing to avoid echoing.
  • This feature only supports individual YouTube videos and YouTube Live streams. YouTube playlists are not supported at this time.
  • Shared YouTube videos are not recorded. 

Sharing your screen

If you don't have a video file on hand, you can screen share a tab or a window with your video. 

Note: To screen share with audio, you must use Chrome. Sharing tab audio works on MacOS and Windows while sharing entire screen audio works on Windows only. Firefox doesn’t support sharing a tab with sound. To share audio from a video player, consider using a third-party application. Refer to our guide Screenshare: Sharing audio from any third-party app for more details. 

To share screen in a Session room:

  1. Open the Share menu and click Share screen.
    Note: Organizers and Moderators can share content without activating their own audio and video on screen. The Share menu option stays accessible at all times.


  2. In the pop-up window, under Chrome Tab, select your tab with the video. Toggle Also share tab audio. Click Share to start sharing.

Using RingCentral Events Studio

When using RingCentral Events Studio to broadcast, you can share video files or simply share a screen.

Sharing video files

To upload a video to the Studio: 

  1. Go to the Stage tab in the Studio panel.
  2. Click Present anything.


  3. Go to the Video tab.


  4. Drag and drop your video file or click the Plus icon to select a file from your computer.
    • Supported format: MP4 
    • Minimum length: 30 seconds
    • Maximum video size: 1080p (1920x1080px)
    • Maximum file size: 5GB
    ✔ You will be brought back to the Studio panel where the uploaded video will be listed.
    Note: Video processing time is approximately 0.4x the video length, so upload large videos in advance.

Uploaded videos will auto-play and loop when brought to the screen. The videos are streamed from RingCentral Events cloud storage. For more information, refer to our guide Studio: Sharing videos.

Sharing screen

If you don't have a video file on hand, you can screen share a tab or a window with your video. 

Note: To screen share with audio, you must use Chrome. Sharing tab audio works on MacOS and Windows while sharing entire screen audio works on Windows only. Firefox doesn’t support sharing a tab with sound. To share audio from a video player, consider using a third-party application. Refer to our guide Screenshare: Sharing audio from any third-party app for more details. 

To share a screen in the Studio: 

  1. Go to the Stage tab in the Studio panel.
  2. Click Present anything.


  3. Click Share screen.


  4. In the pop-up window, under Chrome Tab, select your tab with the video. Toggle Also share tab audio. Click Share to start sharing.

Using Simulive [NO LIVE STREAM]

You can schedule one of your existing recordings or an uploaded video file to run automatically at a specific point in time in a Session room. For detailed steps, refer to our guide on Adding a simulive segment to schedule.

Streaming via RTMP

Finally, you can use RTMP to stream from a third-party source supporting streaming both live and pre-recorded content. Here is a guide where your can learn more about setting up a RTMP stream: Streaming from OBS to Session via RTMP.

Important: Streaming to Session via RTMP is not supported in Webinar events.

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