You can upload a video, PDF, or audio file to your training content via your Skilljar dashboard. In this article, we'll cover how to upload files one at a time, recommended video settings, and some general troubleshooting.
If you have several files that you'd like to upload, read Bulk Upload Files.
Note: Our upload file size limit is 4.2GB.
Uploading your video, PDF or audio file
To upload a video, PDF or audio file to be used in your training content, follow these steps:
- On your Skilljar dashboard, expand the Course Management header on the left and select Courses.
- Select the course you want to add a video to from the list (or create a new one). You'll be taken to the course's Curriculum page.
- Select New Lesson and then Files or Web Content.
- The page will refresh with new options for your lesson on the right.
- From the lesson options, select the Upload File tab and then browse, find your file and then select Open to add your file. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop your file into the window.
- If you want to embed an existing file from a website (such as YouTube or Google Form), select Embed link and then paste the link to it in URL bar. Then choose the type of file from the Type drop-down selection.
- When you're finished, select Save Lesson. Your file will upload/be added to your course.
- You can see any associated files by selecting the Files tab.
The saving of student video progress is supported for all Wistia and JW Player uploaded videos.
To view the lesson page from the student view, select Preview and select "This Lesson".
If the video is uploaded to Skilljar, we use JWplayer for videos and can add closed captioning/subtitles. To add captions, ensure your text files are created in SRT (.srt) or WebVTT (.vtt) format with 00:00:00,000 timestamps, and upload them on the asset details page
JWPlayer only supports captions in these two formats:
- WebVTT (.vtt)
- SRT (.srt)
Optional lesson components
- Summary - a text/HTML field where you can provide a summary of the lesson for trainees, links to additional resources, upload images, etc.
- Downloadable Content - upload any file type to the downloadable content section to make available to the trainee as a supplementary downloadable attachment
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*Set lesson as free preview on your course detail page (*for video only) - in the content section, select this check box to make the video viewable to customers as a preview before they register for the course
Student Video View:
How do I disable autoplay?
Videos embedded into Skilljar will auto-play by default. If you want to turn autoplay off for all videos in your organization, reach out to support@skilljar.com.
Recommended Settings for Video Files
When you add a video to your lesson, it should be of high quality and in a format, size, resolution, and bitrate that's accessible for all students. We recommend you use the below settings so your uploaded videos are optimized for playing across a wide range of devices and connection speeds.
Main settings
These are the settings we recommend for uploaded videos:
- Format: MP4 video with AAC audio
- Video Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080 pixels)
- Video Bitrate: Target Bitrate 4Mbps, Max bitrate 16Mbps
- Audio Bitrate: 256Kbps max
The following formats are also accepted, although MP4 is recommended: M4V, AVI, and FLV
Additional settings
- There is a max file size of 4.2 GB per video and a max upload time of one hour. If your video is larger than 4.2 GB, you should be able to compress it a bit and get it smaller.
- Use progressive frames (such as 720p) instead of interlacing (for example. 720i). Interlacing doesn't apply to online video and the transcoder may introduce artifacts when attempting to filter it away.
- Use a screen aspect ratio of 16:9. This will fill the screen of many monitors, laptops, tablets, and phones with your footage. More rectangular (4:3) or cinematic (2.39:1) ratios will result in black borders on many screens.
- Use a pixel aspect ratio of 1:1. Older broadcast formats (like PAL or NTSC) use non-square pixels, but online video pixels are always square. Our video player may have trouble converting non-square pixel aspect ratios, resulting in a stretched image.
- Export your videos in MP4 format and not in MOV. MOV files include additional features like edit lists that often result in audio-video sync issues.
- If available, select the Main or High profile for the H.264 video. These profiles support features like B-frames and CABAC, resulting in higher quality at the same bitrate.
- To add closed captioning to your videos, ensure your text files are created in SRT or WebVTT format with 00:00:00,000 timestamps, then go to the asset details page to upload them.
- JW Player recommends keeping each caption length under 64 characters to prevent cut-off.
Transcoding
Your video is transcoded into a variety of resolutions so we can deliver the best quality video depending on the speed of your student's internet connection. We will scale and transcode the video at these widths:
- 1920px wide (1080p video)
- 1280px wide (720p video)
- 720px wide
- 480px wide
- 320px wide
Note: We only downscale videos, so it is recommended that you upload the original in the largest width that's practical for you.
Compatible Audio Formats
Skilljar lessons accepts these audio file types:
- MP4
- MP3
- AAC
- MPEG
- OGG
- WAV
- M4A
- AU
Troubleshooting
Issues with Uploaded Video Quality:
Skilljar uses JW Player to host Uploaded Videos - when you initially upload a video, JW Player needs a few hours to process the video in order to serve the high-quality video to your viewers. Please give the video a few hours and if you are still seeing low quality embedded video streams you can try the steps in Troubleshooting Video and SCORM Loading or Playback Problems
Issues with audio not playing:
Beginning in version 66 of Chrome, audio is automatically disabled on videos configured with auto-play. This feature is specific to Chrome and behavior may vary between different web browsers.
- Read Wistia's blog post about this change: Autoplaying Videos Just Got Quieter
XHR Error:
If running into an XHR error while uploading a video or SCORM package to the course platform, please check to see if there have been any recent changes to your company’s security/IT settings, such as your browser having a recent update. You can also try uploading a video while disconnected from your corporate wifi or VPN.