Manage your hosted video library
Pomatio Video Hosting lets site editors upload and organize videos without sending the video file through WordPress. The browser transfers each file directly to private video storage, while WordPress keeps the title, status, folder, playlist membership, and plan usage together.
Before you begin
You need:
- a Pomatio Video Hosting subscription linked to this site;
- permission to upload files in WordPress;
- a supported video file within your plan's maximum upload size and storage allowance.
Administrators, editors, authors with upload permission, and shop managers can manage the library. Video Hosting settings remain limited to administrators.
If the subscription is not linked, Media → Videos shows only the connection status and a button to open Settings → Pomatio → Pomatio Video Hosting.
Upload videos
- In WordPress, open Media → Videos.
- Stay on the Library tab.
- Drag one or more video files onto Drop video files here, or choose the files from your device.
- If your plan includes scroll video and you need that additional output, select Generate an additional scroll-video output before choosing the files.
- Keep the page open until each upload says it is complete.
Each upload shows its own progress. You can pause and resume it while the page remains open, retry a failed transfer, or cancel it. Cancelling also closes the private multipart upload so the unfinished file does not consume your allowance indefinitely.
Your plan also limits how many uploads and processing jobs can be active at the same time. If that capacity is temporarily full, wait for another item to finish and choose Retry. A source that has already finished transferring is kept safely for that retry; it is not uploaded through WordPress again.
After transfer completes, the video moves through Queued and Processing to Ready. The library refreshes processing videos for up to ten minutes, and Refresh always requests the latest state.
Organize videos in folders
Folders affect only the administration library. Moving a video does not change its identity or playlist membership.
- In the Folders sidebar, select the folder that should contain a new folder.
- Choose New and enter its name.
- To move one video quickly, drag its library row onto a folder.
- To move several videos, select their checkboxes, choose Move to folder, and select the destination.
Select a folder and use Rename, Move, or Delete when needed. Deleting a folder does not delete videos: its videos and child folders move to the deleted folder's parent.
The folder tree stays expanded so every nested folder remains visible. The number beside each folder is the number of videos stored directly in that folder; videos inside child folders are shown in those children's counts.
Find and inspect videos
Use the controls above the library to search by title or original filename, filter by status or playlist, change the sort order, and move between pages.
Choose a video title or Details to review:
- a private playable preview when the video is ready;
- processing status, duration, resolution, and storage;
- which outputs have completed;
- a safe explanation when processing fails;
- title and folder;
- scroll-output preference, when the plan supports it;
- the linked editorial post, when content synchronization is enabled.
When the video is ready, Logical video URL provides its stable POM URL. Copy this value into a POM Theme self-hosted video field instead of copying a storage or delivery URL. POM Theme treats it like any other self-hosted source. The service resolves it to short-lived private delivery credentials at playback time.
Pages that use a logical video URL remain compatible with full-page caches such as POM Cache. Cached HTML stores only the video's stable random identifier, not an expiring playback credential or delivery URL. When a visitor starts the video, Pomatio Video Hosting checks the site's current service access and transfer allowance before issuing a short-lived delivery signature. CloudFront accepts only that signed video generation.
From the details window you can save the title or folder, reprocess an eligible video, request or remove its scroll output, open Edit video details, or move the hosted video to Trash. This action is available for videos you uploaded; moving another user's video to Trash also requires permission to delete other users' posts. See Delete or restore a video below for recovery and permanent deletion behavior.
Publish one hosted video
- Wait until the library status is Ready.
- Open Details and copy Logical video URL.
- Edit the page or template where the video should appear.
- Add a POM Theme Video component, choose Self-hosted, and paste the logical URL into the MP4 URL field.
- Configure autoplay, looping, thumbnail, and aspect ratio as needed, then update the page.
Choose Default player or Custom player (Video.js 10) under Settings → POM Theme → Design system → Components → Video player. The default preserves the theme's established self-hosted behavior. The custom player uses the theme-wide skin and the controls selected in each Video component. Autoplay starts muted when browser policy requires it. When autoplay and a poster are enabled, only the poster remains visible until playback actually starts; no loading message or spinner replaces it.
When the default player receives a hosted logical URL, it uses the lightweight standard progressive rendition generated for every new video. If an older video has not completed its progressive backfill, POM Theme falls back automatically to the private HLS transport so the foreground video remains playable. Ordinary WordPress Media Library files continue to use the selected default or custom player directly.
Hosted HLS playback starts in Auto quality. It limits the selected rendition to the player's physical display size, including high-density screens, and adapts downward when measured bandwidth cannot sustain the current rendition.
For a row or column background, paste the logical URL into the self-hosted MP4 field. Backgrounds use the standard progressive output through Jarallax and never load Video.js. Scroll does not need to be enabled; request the additional Scroll output only for scroll-controlled animation or scrubbing.
Customize the player
Open Settings → POM Theme → Design system → Components → Video player to choose the foreground self-hosted player and set the shared custom-player colors, poster fit, playback speeds, and preload policy. These visual settings also apply to hosted-video posts and playlists.
Each POM Theme Video component controls its own autoplay, loop, thumbnail, aspect ratio, modal behavior, and optional controls. Automatic playback triggered by page load, viewport entry, hover, or first interaction is muted so browsers can start it reliably. Playlist layout and sequence defaults remain under Media → Videos → Settings → Playlist defaults.
Build a synchronized Video single template
When Synchronize a Video post for each hosted asset and Enable single
video pages are enabled, Pomatio Video Hosting creates the editorial Video post
and keeps its logical URL in the _pom_video_logical_url post meta field. The
service does not add a player or otherwise alter the single post content.
Open Settings → Permalinks → Custom post type URLs → Videos to choose the single and archive URL structure. Then create the Video single template in POM Theme and place this shortcode where the player should appear:
[web_video video_type="self-hosted" video_mp4_url='{{meta name="_pom_video_logical_url" only_content="true"}}']The only_content="true" parameter supplies the raw logical URL to the
self-hosted source field. Add the remaining web_video options to the template
for the required poster, autoplay, loop, aspect ratio, and controls.
Review plan usage
The Library summary shows original storage, technical physical storage, and monthly transfer. Open Plan & usage for the full breakdown, including monthly processing.
Understand transfer and playback cost
Transfer is measured from the bytes Pomatio Video Hosting delivers to visitors, not from the video's nominal duration or a count of playback minutes. A ten-second loop is therefore not automatically charged ten times after ten cycles. If the browser replays media that remains in its local buffer or cache, those later cycles do not add the same bytes again. If the browser has evicted the data, changes HLS quality, renews a source, or requests the file ranges or segments again, the newly delivered bytes count again.
As a rough estimate, media transfer in megabytes is the selected bitrate in megabits per second multiplied by the seconds downloaded, divided by eight. A 2 Mbps rendition downloaded continuously for 60 seconds is about 15 MB. A ten-second 2 Mbps clip can remain near 2.5 MB across several buffered loops, or approach 2.5 MB per cycle when the browser must download it again. Manifests, captions, thumbnail sprites, and request overhead add a smaller amount.
CDN caching and browser caching have different effects. A CDN-cached object is faster and avoids another origin read, but bytes delivered again from the CDN to the visitor still count as transfer. Playback from the visitor's existing browser buffer does not require that delivery. Browser cache behavior varies, so loop playback should never be budgeted as a guaranteed single download.
POM Theme reduces avoidable background traffic by pausing direct, POM-hosted, YouTube, and Vimeo backgrounds outside the viewport and while the browser tab is hidden. It resumes only playback previously owned by autoplay, preserving a visitor's manual pause. For short hosted HLS loops, the custom player also asks the streaming engine to retain reusable back-buffer segments across quality changes when the browser permits it. YouTube and Vimeo traffic does not consume the Pomatio Video Hosting transfer allowance because those providers deliver their own media.
The usage meter is not a separate per-minute invoice. The subscription price and included transfer are defined by the selected plan; the meter shows how much of that plan allowance has been consumed. Use an appropriately sized rendition, avoid unnecessary autoplay, and keep decorative loops short to make the allowance serve more visits.
Monthly transfer and processing use UTC calendar months. The displayed period renews automatically on the first day of the next UTC month while previous daily usage remains in account history. Processing that is currently in progress is provisionally included in the displayed total until it completes or fails, so simultaneous jobs cannot consume the same remaining allowance.
Warnings identify the affected allowance at 80% and become critical at 95%. At 98% of monthly transfer, Pomatio Video Hosting stops issuing new playback sessions until the next UTC month. Original storage, physical storage, and processing block new uploads or reprocessing when their full allowance is reached. Existing videos are not automatically deleted. Paused or unfinished uploads may appear as reserved original storage until they complete, are cancelled, or expire.
Administrators can open Media → Videos → Settings → Maintenance to review the latest bounded workflow, storage, expired-upload, and retention checks. Run reconciliation reports a missing callback or a storage discrepancy; it does not rewrite a video record or delete an object automatically.
Delete or restore a video
Deleting a stable video moves it to Trash. The video disappears from active library views and folder counts, and no new playback session can start. Its source and generated files, folder, and playlist membership are retained, and its complete storage use continues to count against the plan while it remains recoverable. A short-lived delivery authorization issued before the move can remain usable only until it expires.
- Open Media → Videos → Library.
- Open the video and select Move to Trash.
- To recover it, choose Trash in the status filter and select Restore.
Pomatio Video Hosting permanently deletes a video that remains in Trash for 30 days. The permanent operation is asynchronous: the video first shows Deletion queued or Deleting, and storage remains counted until private storage confirms that the source and every generated version are gone. If the operation fails, the library shows Deletion failed so an administrator can retry it. The synchronized video projection is removed only after AWS confirms that the owned object prefixes are empty. The service-termination deadline described below takes priority if it arrives first.
After permanent deletion, the minimal deleted-asset record is kept for up to 90 days for operational evidence and is then pruned. Keep any master file that you may need elsewhere: Pomatio Video Hosting is a delivery service, not a version-history or archival-backup service.
Export your library or end the service
Contact POM support to request a portable customer export while the subscription is active, during its seven-day access grace period, or before the 30-day data-retrieval deadline shown after access ends. The export is prepared outside the public WordPress directory and includes:
- each retained original upload and the current generated delivery files;
- video metadata and synchronized editorial content;
- folder and playlist organization;
- the video settings for the site; and
- the retained customer-facing operation history and daily usage aggregates.
The bundle uses JSON for structured data, CSV for daily usage, and the media's existing file formats. It is intended to make the data usable and portable; it is not an automatic importer for another hosting provider.
Normal upload, library-management, and playback access continues only through the seven-day grace period. Export remains available through POM support until 30 days after the subscription ends. After that deadline, permanent deletion of the hosted sources, generated files, playlists, folders, synchronized video records, and service settings begins asynchronously. Security and transaction evidence that must be retained follows its separate disclosed retention period and is not used to restore the service.
Verify the result
- A successful upload eventually displays Ready.
- Opening the intended folder lists the moved video.
- Refresh updates usage, playlists, folders, their counts, and the current video list without reusing a cached response.
- A page using the logical URL plays without exposing a permanent media URL.
- Plan & usage includes the source file after upload completes.
- A video in Trash does not play, remains visible through the Trash filter, and returns to its previous safe state when restored before its deadline.
Troubleshooting
- Only the connection screen appears: link the subscription under Settings → Pomatio → Pomatio Video Hosting.
- The file is rejected before upload: check its type, size, and the limits shown under Plan & usage.
- A transfer fails: choose Retry. If the source file changed, cancel the upload and select the file again.
- Processing fails: open Details for the safe error message, then choose Reprocess when available.
- Processing or deletion is queued without a workflow reference: open Details and choose the offered retry action. It safely reconnects the existing operation and does not create a second processing slot or duplicate deletion.
- The player reports that hosting is inactive: confirm that the subscription is still linked to this site and has not left its grace period.
- You need your data after access ends: contact POM support before the retrieval deadline shown on the Video Hosting screen. The WordPress library itself remains disabled during this period.
- The player reports that transfer is unavailable: the monthly transfer blocking threshold has been reached; playback resumes when allowance is available again.
- A video stays in progress: choose Refresh. Contact POM support if the state does not change after the processing workflow has had time to finish.
- A video was moved to Trash by mistake: choose Trash in the status filter and select Restore before its 30-day deadline.
- Deletion fails: open the video and retry deletion. Storage remains counted until both private object prefixes are verified empty.
- Maintenance reports a discrepancy: note the video identifier and contact POM support. Reconciliation intentionally reports the difference without changing either copy.