Video

Give one video a section of its own — YouTube, Vimeo or a Shopify-hosted file, with your own cover image and a play button the visitor chooses to press.

Video sells what photography can't: how a fabric moves, how a product is actually used, who is behind the brand. The Video section gives a single video a full section to itself — your own cover image, your own framing, and a play button the visitor presses when they're ready. Nothing autoplays, nothing competes with it, and the page doesn't pay for the video until someone asks for it.

At a glance

Where to find it	Add section → Media
Sources	A Shopify-hosted video file, or a YouTube / Vimeo URL
Allowed on	Any template — not the header or footer groups
Typical use	Brand film, product demo, lookbook, founder story

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How to add

1

Add the section

Click Add section and pick Video from the Media group.

2

Choose one source — not two

Either upload a file into Video (hosted by Shopify) or paste a link into Video URL (YouTube or Vimeo). The field arrives pre-filled with a sample YouTube link, so replace it rather than leaving it next to an uploaded file.

3

Upload a cover image

Cover image is what the visitor sees before pressing play — treat it as a still from the film, not a placeholder. It is also the only part of the section that loads with the page.

4

Add a mobile cover

The frame stays 16:9 on every screen, so a wide desktop still often loses its subject on a phone. Mobile cover image gives small screens their own crop.

5

Fill in the alt text

Video alt text describes the video for screen readers and for anyone whose connection drops the embed. One plain sentence is enough.

Two video fields, one winner. If you fill both Video and Video URL, the section plays the Shopify-hosted file and ignores the URL — silently, with nothing in the editor to tell you. If your YouTube embed isn't showing, the uploaded file is almost always the reason. Clear the Video field and the URL takes over.

Good to know

• The frame is locked to 16:9. There is no ratio setting. A vertical or square video will be letterboxed inside a widescreen frame — for vertical footage, use Stories Slideshow or a Loop video block instead.
• Click to play, always. This is not a background video section: the cover sits there until the visitor presses play. If you want motion that starts on its own, that's the Video Banner in the Banners group or a Loop video block.
• A Shopify-hosted video plays with sound and native controls. Visitors can scrub, pause and mute it themselves — which is exactly what you want for a film someone chose to watch.
• The cover falls back in a chain. Cover image → Mobile cover image → the video's own preview frame → a theme placeholder. You'll never get a black box, but you also won't get a considered first frame unless you upload one.
• An empty section vanishes on the live store. With both video fields blank the section still shows in the editor, so it's easy to publish a page where it simply isn't there. Preview on the live storefront before you call it done.
• Enable video looping restarts the clip when it reaches the end — good for a short atmospheric piece, distracting for anything with a narrative.
• Two colour schemes, not one. Color scheme paints the area around the video; Video color scheme paints the frame itself. They default to different schemes on purpose.

Customization ideas

The brand film, placed where it earns its keep

Put the section halfway down the homepage, after the first collection row — people who have scrolled that far are the ones willing to watch two minutes about you. A hero-position video mostly gets scrolled past.

Product demo on the product template

Add the section to the product template below the buy button, with a cover still showing the product mid-use. It answers the "how does this actually work" question that otherwise becomes a support email.

Looping lookbook

A 10–15 second clip with Enable video looping on, cover image styled like the rest of your photography. It reads as a moving editorial image rather than as a video to commit to.

Press or testimonial reel

A cut of customer clips or press coverage, placed directly above your reviews section so the social proof arrives as one block rather than two.

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Settings reference

Section settings

Setting	What it does
Enable video looping	Restarts the video when it reaches the end.
Video	A video file hosted by Shopify. Takes precedence over Video URL.
Video URL	A YouTube or Vimeo link. Pre-filled with a sample link — replace it.
Cover image	The frame shown before playback starts.
Mobile cover image	Separate cover for small screens. Also used as a fallback if Cover image is empty.
Video alt text	Description for screen readers and failed embeds.

Background animation — the standard Volume animation group: animation mode, on-scroll behaviour and its speed and zoom settings, with a separate toggle for mobile.

Section layout — full width, grid, bottom line and framing, as in every other Volume section.

Color

Setting	What it does
Color scheme	Scheme for the section around the video. Defaults to the first background scheme.
Video color scheme	Scheme for the video frame itself. Defaults to the second background scheme.

Spacing — top and bottom spacing multipliers and inner padding.

Best practices

• Keep it under 90 seconds. Completion rates fall off a cliff after that, and a visitor who abandons a video usually abandons the page with it.
• Put a face on the cover. Covers with a person in them get pressed far more often than covers showing a product alone or, worst of all, a frame of text.
• Decide where the video lives for a reason. YouTube brings its own branding and its own "watch next" suggestions; a Shopify-hosted file brings neither, but you carry the bandwidth and the file size limits.
• Don't make it the first thing on the page. The cover image still has to load, and a video section at the very top of a template is a slower first impression than a banner.

Related

• Media with Text — when the video needs copy and a button beside it
• Image Slideshow & Stories Slideshow — for vertical, story-format video
• Multicolumn — for several short looping clips side by side