How to Post a Video on Reddit
The missing upload button is not a bug in your account. Every community switches these on and off for itself.
Here is how to post a video on Reddit: open the subreddit, start a post, choose the images and video tab, select the file and add a title. If that tab is missing, the community has switched the format off, because each subreddit decides which post types it accepts.
If that tab is missing, the subreddit has disabled it. Communities choose which post types they accept.
Video uploaded this way is hosted by Reddit and plays inline; a link to a video elsewhere behaves like any other link post.
Media posts live or die in the first scroll, and the thumbnail is doing most of the work. The early count that decides whether the feed keeps showing it is what upvotes on a Reddit post acts on.
The per-community switch explains nearly every question that gets asked about this, and it is worth stating before anything technical.
A subreddit's moderators decide which post types exist for everybody: text, link, image, gallery, video, poll. The composer shows only what that community allows. So the same account can upload video in one subreddit and see no option in the next one, and nothing is wrong on either side.
The second layer is rules rather than switches. A community can accept images in principle and still remove yours for a reason listed in the sidebar — no memes on weekdays, source required, title format, flair required. Those removals are manual or automated by the community's own bot, and they arrive after posting.
The third layer is the account. New accounts with little karma are filtered by many communities before a human sees the post, which is covered separately.
So the order to check when a post fails: does this community allow this post type, does the post meet the community's rules, and is the account old enough to pass the filter. Reddit's own technical limits are rarely the answer.
Uploading video
Start a post, pick the images and video tab, and select the file. Reddit transcodes it and hosts it.
There is a length and size ceiling, and the composer rejects anything beyond it rather than trimming.
Sound is supported, and the player exposes a volume control, which is worth checking before posting since silent video is a common upload mistake.
After posting, the video cannot be replaced. A wrong upload has to be deleted and redone.
Sound is the thing to check before posting. Reddit's player starts muted on several clients, so a video whose point is audible rather than visible needs that said in the title or shown on screen, otherwise most viewers scroll past it in silence.
Images and galleries
A single image is the simplest post type and the most widely allowed.
A gallery holds several images in one post, with per-image captions and links on many clients.
Order matters: the first image is the thumbnail and it is what people judge the post by in the feed.
Galleries cannot be edited after posting either. Images cannot be added, removed or reordered.
Captions and per-image links are supported in galleries on most clients and invisible on some, so anything essential belongs in the image itself or in the post body. The same applies to the order: a gallery is judged on its first image, and people who swipe are already interested rather than being convinced.
When the option is missing
The community disabled that post type. Check the sidebar, which usually says what is allowed.
The client matters too: some third-party apps expose fewer post types than the official one.
Profile posts, on your own user page, allow most types regardless of any community's rules, which is a way to host media you can then link.
And a few communities only accept links, which means uploading anywhere else and posting the link.
Hosting the file somewhere else
When a community does not accept uploads, the fallback is a link post, and the host you choose changes how the post performs.
Reddit renders previews for some hosts and not others. A link that shows a preview behaves like a media post; one that shows a bare URL behaves like a link to a website, which many communities downrank or ban.
Your own profile is the overlooked option. Profile posts accept media regardless of any community's rules, and the resulting link is a Reddit link, which is treated better than an external one.
For video with sound, Reddit's own player is the only one that plays inline on all clients. An external video is a tap away, and most people do not take it.
And never post the same file to several communities as link posts pointing at one another. That pattern is detected as spam and it is the fastest route to a sitewide restriction.
Why media posts get removed
Missing or wrong flair, in communities that require it.
Title format rules, which are enforced by automated moderation and are strict about brackets and prefixes.
Source requirements for images, where the rule is usually a comment with the origin within a set time.
Reposts, which large communities detect automatically.
And account filters, where a new account's media post never reaches the queue at all.
Sometimes the account rather than the format is the problem, which when posting is blocked entirely covers, and media from a business is held to a different standard, set out in the self-promotion rules.
Getting the post seen
The first image or frame is the thumbnail, and in a scrolling feed it is the whole decision.
Titles do the work that captions cannot, because the caption is not visible in the feed.
Posting time matters more for media than for text, since media competes in a faster-moving part of the feed.
And crossposting to a second community is allowed where the rules permit it, which is a better strategy than submitting the same file twice.
Timing and titles decide the first minutes, and after that the post either moves or does not. Upvotes on a Reddit post acts on that window, alongside the other Reddit services we carry.
Questions people ask about posting media
Why can't I post a video in this subreddit?
The community has that post type switched off. Each subreddit chooses which types its composer offers.
How long can a Reddit video be?
There is a ceiling, and the composer refuses anything above it rather than trimming. Check it at upload time, since it has changed.
Can I add images to a post after publishing?
No. Media and galleries are fixed once posted. Only the text body of a text post can be edited.
How do I post several photos at once?
Use the gallery option, where supported. The first image becomes the thumbnail, so choose the order deliberately.
Why was my image post removed?
Usually a community rule: flair, title format, source requirement or repost detection, enforced by the subreddit's own automation.
Can I post media on my own profile?
Yes. Profile posts are not bound by any community's rules, which makes them a place to host media you then link elsewhere.
Keep reading
- upvotes on a Reddit post — Media posts live or die in the first scroll, and upvotes on a Reddit post acts on the number that decides whether the feed keeps showing it.
- when posting is blocked entirely — Sometimes the problem is the account rather than the format, and when posting is blocked entirely covers those filters.
- the self-promotion rules — Media from a business is held to a different standard, and the self-promotion rules explains where the line sits.