Importing Videos from Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and More

Introduction

Your content probably doesn't live on just one platform. With playout.video's Import videos feature you can bring videos from all the major social platforms into your media library with a single link. No downloading, converting, or re-uploading.

Once imported, a video works exactly like an uploaded file: add it to 24/7 playlists, schedule it on the calendar, or use it in compositions with overlays.

Supported Platforms

• YouTube: videos, Shorts, playlists and channels (dedicated guide)

• Facebook: videos, Reels and Watch links (including fb.watch short links)

• Instagram: Reels and video posts

• TikTok: videos and profile pages

• X (Twitter): video posts

• Vimeo: videos

• Dailymotion: videos

• Twitch: VODs and clips

• Rumble, LinkedIn, Reddit: video posts

Pasting a link from an unsupported site shows a clear message listing the supported platforms.

How to Import

1. Open your Media Library (or the Dashboard) and click Import

2. Paste the video link, for example a Facebook Reel URL or a TikTok video URL

3. Click Discover. playout.video fetches the video's title, thumbnail, duration and view count

4. Select the video (profile pages and playlists list every video found) and click Import

The video downloads in the best quality available for your plan, is transcoded for streaming, and appears in your library, usually within a few minutes.

Imported Metadata

Every import captures the video's metadata: title, author, views, publish date, description and source link. You can review and edit all of it on the video's detail page under Metadata, and add up to three custom fields of your own (for example episode = S02E14).

This metadata powers overlay template variables: a lower third with {{title}} — {{author}} automatically shows each video's own title and author as your playlist plays. See the overlay template editor for the full variable list.

Good to Know

• Your own content only: import videos you own or have permission to use. Re-streaming someone else's content violates the source platform's terms and copyright law.

• Public videos: private or login-gated videos can't be imported.

• Quality: the import takes the best quality the platform offers, up to your plan's resolution and frame-rate limits.

• Storage: imported videos count toward your cloud storage quota.

• DRM content: videos from DRM-protected services (Netflix and similar) cannot be imported.

Troubleshooting

"This site is not supported for imports": the link's site isn't on the supported list above. Paste a direct link to a video on one of the supported platforms.

Import fails or gets stuck: check the video is public and the link opens in a private browser window. Some platforms rate-limit repeated requests; wait a few minutes and use Retry Import on the file's detail page.

Wrong title or metadata: edit it any time on the video's detail page under Metadata; your changes flow through to overlay variables automatically.