Vimeo offers a variety of ways to restrict access to your videos. This article will explain how to change a video’s setting and what each setting does so you can make an informed decision on how to configure your videos. Please note that most of these settings are only available to Plus members and higher.
In this article:
- Privacy settings overview
- Restrict who can watch your videos
- Restrict where your video can be embedded
Privacy settings overview
Vimeo offers the following privacy options for your videos:
- Public: Anyone can watch the video, and the video will be discoverable in search engines.
- Unlisted (Plus and higher): Unlisted videos will not appear in public search results, but they can be accessed and shared by anyone who has the video's unique URL. These videos can also be embedded anywhere online. Viewers do not need a Vimeo account to watch an unlisted video.
- Note: When you change your video's privacy settings to Unlisted, an extra set of numbers - what we call the privacy hash - will be added at the end of your video's URL, and must be included in order for embeds to work.
- Password (Plus and higher): Set a password for the video. Anyone who enters that password can watch the video.
- Hide from Vimeo (Plus and higher): The video can be embedded and viewed on other sites but does not have a video page on Vimeo. Your video cannot appear in channels and groups but can still be added to showcases and portfolios.
- Private: The video will be visible internally to you and members of your team, and no one else. . (Note: Adding team members to your account requires a Pro membership or higher).
The table below provides a full breakdown of where your video is viewable for each privacy setting:
|
Feature |
Public |
Unlisted |
Password |
Hide From Vimeo |
Private |
|
Shareable video page on vimeo.com |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Appears in search |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Requires a password for viewers to access |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Appears as a recommended video on public video pages |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Appears in the “More videos” end screen |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Embeddable on other websites |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Appears on your profile |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Appears in followers’ feeds |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Appears in public Showcases |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes (if Showcase is embedded) |
No |
|
Appears in password-protected Showcases |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Appears in Showcases set to ‘Hide from Vimeo’ |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Appears in channels |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Appears in public groups |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Appears in members-only groups |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Appears in public portfolios |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Appears in password-protected portfolios |
Yes (with portfolio password) |
Yes (with portfolio password) |
Yes (with portfolio password) |
Yes (with portfolio password) |
Yes (with portfolio password) |
|
Appears on Review Page |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (with video password) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Appears on File Transfer page |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (with video password) |
Yes |
Yes |
Restrict who can watch your videos
- Log into Vimeo and navigate to your video manager.
- Click on a video to open the video edit page.
- On the right side, click Privacy.
- Under the Link section, select the desired privacy setting. The selection will save automatically.
Restrict where your video can be embedded
Another element of video privacy is whether your video can be viewed somewhere other than vimeo.com. All privacy settings except for “Private” allow you to embed your video on other sites.
- Log into Vimeo and navigate to your Video Manager.
- Click on a video to open the video edit page.
- On the right side, click Privacy.
- Find the Embed section at the bottom of the panel.
- Choose between three options:
- Anywhere: Anyone can embed your video onto any page on the internet
- Nowhere: No one, including you and your team members, can embed your video anywhere. It will only be viewable on vimeo.com
- Specific domains (Plus and higher): Add your website’s domain (mysite.com) or subdomain (subdomain.mysite.com) in the text field that appears; be sure to click (+) to add it. You can specify and manage up to 50 domains where your video can be embedded.
- Note that subdomains will need to be added individually; the main domain will cover additional URL paths (mysite.com/specificpage) but will not cover subdomains.
- Wildcard characters are not supported.
- Your selection will save automatically.