Add Background Video to Webpages with CSS

The YouTube Fan Fest website is a good example of a web page that uses background video to add life to an otherwise boring page. The HTML5 video autoplays in the background in a loop. The video is however hidden when the website is viewed on a mobile device and a static background image is used instead.

Here’s the HTML code:

<body>
  <video id="bgVideo" autoplay loop poster="image.png">
    <!-- Video is embedded in the WEBM format -->
    <source src="video.webm" type="video/webm" />
  </video>
</body>

The site uses CSS media queries to hide the video element on mobile devices (device width < 768 pixels).

<style type=”text/css”>

video#bgVideo {
 position: absolute; // Play the video in full screen mode
 top: 0px;
 left: 0px;
 min-width: 100%;
 min-height: 100%;
 z-index: -1; // Put the video behind all other elements
}

@media only screen and (max-width: 768px) {
 video {
   display:none;
 }
 body{
   background-image:url(“image.png”);
 }
}
</style>
Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

0

Awards & Titles

Digital Inspiration has won several awards since it's launch in 2004.

Google Developer Expert

Google Developer Expert

Google awarded us the Google Developer Expert award recogizing our work in Google Workspace.

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

Our Gmail tool won the Lifehack of the Year award at ProductHunt Golden Kitty Awards in 2017.

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft awarded us the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title for 5 years in a row.

Google Cloud Champion

Google Cloud Champion

Google awarded us the Champion Innovator title recognizing our technical skill and expertise.

Email Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter to stay up to date.

We will never send any spam emails. Promise.