You’ve spent your time and money producing videos for your website that perfectly showcase your products, services or testimonials. But you’re using a YouTube embed on your website so no one visiting your website from China can see.

You can’t change China’s internet policies but is there a way to get your existing videos working seamlessly in China?

TL;DR YouTube is blocked in China so any website videos using YouTube embeds won’t work. But you can still deliver video content for visitors from China by either using a Chinese video platform, self-hosting your videos, or automating the China-replacement and optimization process with Chinafy.

In this blog we’ll cover three ways that global businesses can get videos working on their website for visitors in China.

Is YouTube available in China?

No – YouTube, like several other Western social media platforms, is blocked in China (unless you connect to a VPN, but they, unless government-approved, are also restricted). YouTube has been inaccessible since 2009 due to the country’s strict internet regulations. So for businesses and content creators relying on YouTube to share their videos on their global website, this presents quite a hurdle when trying to reach Chinese audiences.

What then often happens is that a website is left with broken video embeds that disrupt the process of loading a web page, meaning a website using YouTube embeds may not even load at all from China.

But don't worry—there are ways to address this that don’t involve rebuilding your entire website or hosting onshore just to deliver your video content to users in China.

How to embed videos on your website for visitors from China

Even though YouTube is banned in China, there are still ways to effectively deliver video content. Here are three approaches you can consider:

1. Use China-friendly video platforms (if your site is only for Chinese users)

If your business has a separate site or landing pages dedicated purely for China visitors, you can host your videos on Chinese video platforms such as Youku, Tencent Video, or Bilibili. These platforms are popular in China and compatible with the Chinese internet environment, so you’ll be offering a seamless experience for your website visitors in China.

Here are some benefits and drawbacks of using these platforms as a global business.

Pros:

High compatibility: Chinese platforms may load faster and more reliably in China.

Wider local reach: these platforms have large user bases in China so they offer additional visibility beyond your site.

Cons:

Additional website: if your website audience is not solely based in China, it’s important to be aware that Chinese video platforms don’t perform well outside of China, so you probably don’t want to replace your global website’s videos with embeds from a platform like Youku, because it will cause detriment to the global user experience. This means, though, that you need a separate site, which requires more management and maintenance.

Possible ads in embedded videos: some Chinese video platforms like Youku show advertisements even for embedded videos, which isn’t great for user experience but Chinese users are also accustomed to it.

Image source: https://sekkeidigitalgroup.com/

Language barriers: platforms like Tencent Video or Bilibili generally have Chinese-only interfaces, making it harder for non-Chinese teams to operate.

Cost restrictions: there are some video platforms that work in China as well as globally but have a monthly subscription, like Brightcove.

In short, using Chinese video platforms is a good option if your whole site is geared towards a Chinese audience, as this will improve user experience and website performance. However, if you want to make your existing global site more accessible to users in China, this solution isn’t advised.

2. Use a complete China web performance optimization solution (like Chinafy)

If you:

don’t want to manage separate platforms or build a site specifically for China, and

want to stick with global platforms like YouTube or Vimeo,

then Chinafy offers an easy, effective alternative that works with your existing website.

Chinafy works by automatically identifying and replacing blocked or slow-loading content—such as YouTube videos—with Chinese-friendly equivalents. By generating a China-specific version of your site, Chinafy doesn’t need to change or affect the global version*, so visitors outside of China will still have access to your original content.

In short, you keep YouTube for your existing site but Chinafy replaces the video host with a China-friendly equivalent solely for users visiting from China.

Why global businesses prefer this solution:

No website overhaul needed: you keep your global website and video hosting strategy and let Chinafy make your videos work in China.

Same URL, same experience: the Chinafy version of your site is more or less exactly the same, it just works in China (through geo-IP-based routing), and your global site remains untouched.

It’s all automated: Chinafy does the heavy lifting by using Smart Actions and rule-based optimizations to detect blocked resources and optimize them for website traffic from China

Ongoing optimization: As and when you update content on your existing site, Chinafy automatically discovers and syncs changes for the China version.

Bottom line: if you’re looking to deliver video content to Chinese users without managing two or more separate sites, Chinafy can optimize your video experience for visitors from China without affecting the videos currently on your website.

*Disclaimer: Chinafy is compliant with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT), and thus does not support sites or video content that are blocked or censored by the MIIT.

3. Self-host your videos

A third option is to self-host videos and potentially use other ways to accelerate your website loading speed such as a CDN (content delivery network).

Your first decision here is where to host:

If the hosting server you use is outside of China, users in China could face latency issues which means you’re not really resolving the original issue.

If you want to host your videos on a Chinese server, this comes with a whole lot more requirements.

Here are the pros and cons of self-hosting in China itself.

Pros:

Control: you have more control over your content and how it’s delivered without reliance on a video platform.

Potentially quicker load times: self-hosting your videos may result in faster loading speeds when they are accessed from China, however, this relies on the rest of your website’s code and infrastructure being compatible for China.

Cons:

China hosting prerequisites: hosting videos within China requires setting up a local business entity, acquiring an ICP (Internet Content Provider) license and choosing a Chinese hosting provider.

Higher maintenance: self-hosting requires additional resources to manage the servers, file formats, and streaming infrastructure.

Essentially, if you’re hosting your website in China, or want to do so, then self-hosting your videos in China will usually resolve website performance issues associated with YouTube (as you’re no longer using this particular third-party service that’s blocked in China – although be aware that you may still have other resources that are leading to speed and functionality problems).

While YouTube is blocked in China, there are still options to make your videos work in China.

Ultimately, the right solution depends on your goals. For global companies looking to manage a single website without hosting in China, Chinafy offers the easiest path to delivering videos and optimizing performance for the Chinese market.

There’s no need to compromise your entire site setup to accommodate China’s internet restrictions - reach out to Chinafy to optimize your website for China today.