How to grant visitor read-only access to videos in SharePoint Online sites?

Question

How to grant visitor read-only access to videos in SharePoint Online sites?

Zhang, Eric 120

Hi there,

we are building a intranet, and for videos on the webpages we need to prevent download from visitors for safety perspective.

as the detail of the question is long, I put my request here.

Can you please advise

how to prevent visitor to download videos from SharePoint Online pages
how to change thumbnails for videos

we met problems when building it, although we set the video folder Can't download for visitors

the video on the page with embed component, with iframes. Visitor does not have access to watch the video
1. after click download, it shows.
the video with video web part displays fine,
but visitors can download the video by right click on the video - copy url, when paste video url in a new tag, the video is automatically downloaded.
and visitors must click the play icon in the middle of thumbnail to make the thumbnail go away, and then click on the play button at the bottom to play the video.

Thank you

Eric

Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-09T08:02:32.1866667+00:00

Regarding changing thumbnails, I check on https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-or-change-a-video-thumbnail-in-sharepoint-bbf52fe0-3dd6-4bd7-b199-ccde413f6b1e

But I don't find video settings from myside,

Answer accepted by question author

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Your answer

Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-09T08:02:32.1866667+00:00

Regarding changing thumbnails, I check on https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-or-change-a-video-thumbnail-in-sharepoint-bbf52fe0-3dd6-4bd7-b199-ccde413f6b1e

But I don't find video settings from myside,

Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi @Zhang, Eric,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A Forum.

Please understand that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to cover your personal information in the description and store it in private message on your thread. To access private message, you'll see the pop up private message notification on the top of your thread. Please notice to hide these personal or organization information next time you post error or some information to protect your personal data.

From your description, when you use the Video Web Part, this component takes the video from shared folder in the SharePoint site, and you will need modify permission access to avoid other download the video.

And with the embedded web part, you can use a video from an external source, but it will limit the thumbnail options you mention.

Therefore, I suggest this workaround. You can follow these steps so visitors cannot download the video and you can apply a thumbnail:

1- Upload your video to your OneDrive. After uploading, click on the video. You will promt to the Stream page to edit the video and permissions.

2- To change sharing permissions, click on Manage access, create a new link, and change the permission to Can’t download.

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3- For the thumbnail, click on Video settings and change your thumbnail.

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4- After finishing, click on the Share button again and choose Embed code. It will have an autoplay option so visitors do not need to click manually. But with this option, the thumbnail will disappear, therefore, you may need to consider this based on your needs.

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5- After copying the embed code, you can paste it into the Embed Web Part in your SharePoint site.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any further concern.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-10T02:23:38.0233333+00:00

Hi Mia,

Thank you for the quick reply, and thank you so much for hide the personal information!

Stream service seems not enable in our Microsoft account. (when I enter my account in stream.office.com, it displays: we couldn't find an account under this username...)

when I open the video in one drive, it looks like below, still not video editing option.

and I set the video folder can't download for visitors, but they still can download the video through right click menu, save video as / copy link,

Thank you,

Eric
Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-20T08:45:48.3+00:00

Hi Mia - Tr,

Do we have any feedback regarding my last post?

Thank you,

Eric
Anonymous

2025-10-20T10:00:23.48+00:00

Hi @Zhang, Eric.

I’m sorry for my late response because I needed some time to investigate your situation thoroughly.

To explain clearly: regarding the embedded web part you’re using, HTML5 video elements allow the browser to fetch the file, so users can copy the link. Even if you set Can’t download in the document library permissions, the video URL remains accessible because the embed uses a direct file link. Based on my research, SharePoint does not have a built-in option for iframe streaming protection, so a workaround is required, as I mentioned in my previous reply.

And the workaround I suggested may not be applicable due to license limitations. I apologize for not confirming this earlier before providing that information.

However, I recommend using the Video web part, because this component is integrated into SharePoint and helps minimize security risks by sourcing content directly from the document library.

Once you adjust visitor access permissions, downloading will not be possible because they cannot right-click to copy the link as you mentioned. Although they may still have access to the document library (since they have permission to view your site), they will not be able to download the video at all.

Additionally, with the Video web part, you can also change video thumbnails as you requested.

Therefore, if you still wish to use an iframe, I’m sorry due to the nature of iframes, this is complex and may require a Microsoft Support Engineer to step in. They can perform a remote session to investigate and verify backend configurations to help you find suitable sulution.

Apologies for redirecting you to the related development team support as the moderators in this community have limited resources to check the backend information, and to get the fast and better assistance we requested for it.

To contact Microsoft Technical support team, the Global Admin should create a support ticket request in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

If you're end-user in your organization and unsure who the Global Admin is, you can find guidance on locating them here: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support.

Once again, thank you for your patience and your valuable time. f you have any questions about my suggestions, please feel free to let me know, I will do my best to assist.
Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-21T02:29:45.87+00:00
Hi Mia,

Thank you for your help, and I apologize for pushing you.

I did not find where to change the video thumbnail The below interface is when I opened video file. This is the how I insert the video with video webpart.

Set the video folder permission as Cannot download I set video folder permission Cannot download for visitors. And our testers can not see the video, what they saw is Access Denied message displayed after clicking download button. After clicking the play button on the right one with video webpart, The interface of both videos look the same, and the codes are the same as well, and right click menu is still there. It looks that the when the video via Video webpart start playing, it works the same way as embed Iframe one. Thank you so much, Eric
Anonymous

2025-10-21T10:01:11.52+00:00

Thank you @Zhang, Eric, to ensure that we’re on the same page, could you please review this information again?

1- About thumbnail, it can only be applied to the video webpart. After you add the webpart and save your edits, on the homepage, click Play video, and the About video section will appear.

In Video settings, you can edit the video thumbnail.

In the screenshot you mentioned, when you opened the video file and didn’t see the option to edit the thumbnail, that’s because your account or organization does not have a Microsoft Stream license. In my initial response, I suggested using that method without asking whether you had a Microsoft Stream license. Therefore, once again, I apologize for causing confusion.

If possible, please kindly use a third-party source to edit the thumbnail for your video and then upload it again.

2- About grant access for visitor, this also depends on how you share the site, via link or by sending an invitation to other users. If you added visitors by sending an invitation, could you please double-check the permission level on your site?

In Site Settings > Site permissions > Advanced permission setting

If the permission level for Visitors is Read, you can change it to Restrict View by selecting the checkbox next to the Visitor role > clicking Edit User Permissions

Unticking Read, ticking Restrict View, and then saving the setting.

After making the changes, republish the site so all settings sync. This way, visitors will not be able to copy the video link after viewing.

If the visitor access site via link, you will need to modify permission on sharing link.

Additionally, in my testing environment, I did not see the “Copy link” option you mentioned (I tested across different browsers).

Therefore, as I mentioned in my previous reply, to review this behavior, intervention from a Microsoft Technical Support Engineer may be required. They can perform a remote session to investigate and help clarify your situation better. As a forum moderator in this community, we have limited resources to check your site settings and can only troubleshoot based on published documentation.

I really appreciate your patience while we work through this.
Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-22T02:47:39.5366667+00:00

Hi Mia,

Thank you so much for your explanation.

although I follow your guidance step by step, unfortunately it still does not work.

Can you please let me know how I can contact with Microsoft Technical Support Engineer?

Thanks a lot for your help,

Eric
Anonymous

2025-10-23T09:19:27.46+00:00

Hi @Zhang, Eric,

To contact Microsoft Technical support team, the Global Admin (the person who can manage all accounts in your organization) should create a support ticket request in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

If you're end-user in your organization and unsure who the Global Admin is, you can find guidance on locating them here: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support.
Zhang, Eric 120 Reputation points

2025-10-23T09:23:07.3233333+00:00

Hi Mia,

Thank you for the information.

Consider the ticket closed.

Thanks again for your help,

Eric