How do I upload a video, audio file, or image to My Media or Media Gallery?

My Media in your Global Navigation Menu is your personal storage area for videos, audio files, and images. Files in My Media may be private, or they may be published to the Media Gallery in one or more of your Canvas courses. Anyone can upload media directly to My Media.

Media Gallery is a media repository for a course that an instructor can add to the Course Navigation Menu. A participant in a course can upload a video, audio file, or image to Media Gallery, which publishes the file in the gallery at the same time as uploading it to their own My Media space.

Note: By default, only the person who uploaded a video and anyone they add to the video as a collaborator with Co-Editor permission can download it. However, you can enable downloads on a media file to allow anyone who has access to a Media Gallery where it is published to download it.

Tip: For more options to upload media, see the following articles.

Go to My Media or Media Gallery.

  1. To go to My Media: Select My Media from your Global Navigation Menu.
  2. To go to Media Gallery: Select Media Gallery from the Course Navigation Menu.

Note: To access the Media Gallery tool in a McIntire School of Commerce course site, select McIntire Kaltura from the Course Navigation Menu instead of Media Gallery.

In Media Gallery, access the Media tab.

If you are uploading to Media Gallery and any playlists have been created in the course, the Playlists tab will display as the first page.  If this is the case, select the Media tab to go to it.

Note: The Media tab will display with the number of files currently included in it, e.g., 6 Media.

Select Add Media.

Note: On mobile devices or small screens, the Add Media button displays as a plus (+) icon.

Tip: This step and the steps below are the same in both My Media and Media Gallery.

Select Add New, then Media Upload.

On the Add Media page:

  1. Select Add New.
  2. Select Media Upload.

Drag and drop the file to upload or select to choose a file.

  1. Drag and drop the file to upload into the Upload Media box,
  2. Or select the Choose a file to upload button. Then, select the file to upload from your computer.

Wait for the upload.

  1. Depending on the size of your file, the upload may take some time to complete. During this time, the upload progress will display on the screen.
  2. When the file is successfully uploaded, an Upload Completed! message will replace the progress bar.

Edit the name and add details as needed.

  1. By default, the Name will be the name of the file you uploaded, e.g., wildlifevideoclip.wmv. It is recommended that you edit the Name to make your file easy to find in My Media and/or Media Gallery.
  2. Add a Description or Tags for searching (Optional).
  3. By default, the file will Always be available to viewers in a Media Gallery where it is published or on a page where it is embedded. To restrict when viewers can access the file to specific dates and times, change the Publishing Schedule to Specific Time Frame. For details, see How do I schedule a file's availability in Media Gallery? (opens new window).
  4. Select Add Collaborator to give someone else access to your file as a Co-Editor, Co-Publisher, or Co-Viewer (Optional). For details, see How do I allow someone to view, publish, or edit a file in My Media? (opens new window).

Note: As the media owner, you will always be able to view the file in My Media even if its Publishing Schedule is restricted. Anyone added on the file as a Collaborator (Co-Publisher, Co-Editor, or Co-Viewer) will also be able to view it at any time.

Save and access your media.

  1. Select Save.
  2. Select the Go To Media link to go directly to the file you just uploaded, or select Go To My Media or Go To Media Gallery to go back to the main page of My Media or Media Gallery.

Note: Your uploaded file may need to be approved.

By default, student uploads in a course's Media Gallery are Moderated. This means that an instructor must review and approve any uploaded files to publish them in the course. If you are uploading to Media Gallery and your file needs to be approved, you will get an Access Denied error when selecting Go To Media, and a message Your additional media will be presented once it is ready and approved when selecting Go To Media Gallery.

View media.

If you uploaded your file to a course's Media Gallery, where you can view it depends on whether the Media Gallery allows you to publish content immediately, or if the file is waiting to be approved.

View a file published immediately.

Once your video or audio file has been published, it will be available in the Media Gallery's Media tab, and you can select it to view it.

View a file pending approval.

All media you upload, whether or not it is published in a course, is saved in My Media.

Go to My Media.

Select My Media from your Global Navigation Menu.

Check the file's publishing status.

Under the name of a file in My Media, you can find information on its publishing status. Possible statuses include:

  1. Private: The file is only available to you and anyone whom you have added as a Collaborator in My Media.
  2. Pending: The file is waiting for an instructor to approve it to be published in a course's Media Gallery.
  3. Published: The file is published in a course's Media Gallery or embedded on a page in a course (e.g., in a module or an assignment).

Select the status indicator of Pending or Published to display the course(s) where a file is pending approval or published.

Note: If a file has been successfully published in one course, but is pending approval in another, a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark (!) icon will appear with the file's Published indicator.

Select the file to view.

Choose a video, audio file, or image to view by selecting its thumbnail or name.

Add captions for accessibility.

If you have uploaded a video or audio file, don't forget to follow the steps to request captions in My Media (opens new window) to make the file accessible!

Publish a file uploaded to My Media. (Optional)

If you uploaded a file to My Media that you would like to use in a Canvas course, you will need to publish the file in the course site. For steps, see one of the following articles: