Putting a Video Inside a Shape

Important: Before putting a video inside a shape, it USUALLY has better 

results if you “Crop” the video first. Trying both with and without 

cropping first is usually what we do to find the best look.  

(SEE VIDEO: “Cropping a Video”) 

Step 1: Open PowerPoint 2013 and create a new slide or navigate to the slide where you want to insert 

the video. 

Step 2: Go to the "Insert" tab in the PowerPoint ribbon at the top of the screen and click on the "Video" 

button in the "Media" group. This will open a drop-down menu with options to insert a video. 

Step 3: Choose "Video on My PC" or "Video from Website" (or "Video on Device" if using a later version 

of PowerPoint), and then browse folders to locate and select the video file from your computer, 

internet, or device. Then click "Insert" to add the video to the slide canvas square (work area). 

Step 4: Once the video is inserted on the slide, it will be displayed as a black video playback window or 

as the 1st frame (pic) of the video. Open the “Selection Pane” and click on the video name there to select 

it. And then set it’s “playback”.  (SEE VIDEO: “Habit on Video Insertion”) and (SEE VIDEO: “Opening & 

Using Selection Pane”) 

Step 5: Go to the "Video Tools" tab in the PowerPoint ribbon at the top, which appears when the video 

is selected. This tab provides options for formatting the video, including applying the shape. (Note it is 

called “Video Format” tab in later versions of PowerPoint) 

Step 6: In the "Video Tools" tab (or “Video Format”), click on the "Video Shape" button in the "Video 

Styles" group. This will open a drop-down menu with options to apply different shapes to the video. 

Step 7: Choose the shape you want to use to frame the video from the drop-down menu, such as 

rectangle, circle, or any other available shape. 

Step 8: The selected shape will be applied to the video, effectively putting the video inside the shape. 

You can adjust the size, position, and other formatting options for the shape and video to achieve the 

desired visual effect. 

Step 9: Optionally, you can further customize the video shape by right-clicking on the video, selecting 

"Format Video" from the context menu, and exploring the various formatting options available, such as 

adjusting the shape's size, rotation, effects, and more. 

Step 10: Preview the slide in slide show mode to ensure that the video is playing and the shape effect is 

applied as desired. 

Step 11: Save your PowerPoint presentation to retain the video and shape effect settings.