How to Embed a Live Stream Camera on Your Website Using YouTube or Twitch

One of the biggest advantages of choosing a LiveCam from CCTV Camera World is how simple it is to embed your live stream directly on your website. With support for popular streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live, you can offer a seamless viewing experience to your audience without the hassle of recurring fees. Plus, if you get stuck, we provide free tech support with quick response times during business hours.

What does embedding mean?

Embedding means placing a live video feed on a page of your website so visitors can view it without having to go to another website. This not only makes your stream easier to access, but it also keeps visitors engaged with your brand instead of sending them off to another platform. This makes it easier to share your stream and more traffic on your website that promotes your brand as well. No more explaining how to find your stream on YouTube or Twitch and hoping they find it!

In fact, when viewers leave your site to find your live stream, they may get distracted or end up watching someone else — including a competitor. Embedding helps you avoid that risk and gives your stream a more polished, professional appearance.

Live streams embedded on your homepage or landing page are ideal for:

• Local businesses and attractions
• Schools and universities
• Scenic or rental properties
• Zoos, aquariums, and science centers
• Public events and tourism campaigns

Want to see what’s possible? Browse our full selection of LiveCam models and use the helpful guides below to get started — no subscription required.

• Live Stream Cameras
• Setup a Live Stream Camera without Monthly Charges (Twitch)
• Live Stream an Outdoor Camera to YouTube Live

Why Embed Using YouTube or Twitch?

While IP security cameras and PoE cameras can provide a live video feed, making that stream accessible over the internet isn’t simple. You usually need to set up complex port forwarding to let people view the camera’s built-in webpage — and that opens the door to serious security risks. On top of that, every person who watches the stream connects directly to your camera, using up bandwidth and potentially overloading your internet connection. If you're trying to avoid getting hacked and still want a smooth experience for multiple viewers, the setup quickly becomes complicated and unreliable. 

This is where platforms like YouTube Live and Twitch come in. When you stream your camera to one of these services, the camera only needs to send a single video stream to the internet. Twitch or YouTube then takes care of rebroadcasting your stream to any number of viewers without bogging your internet down.

Not only does this solve bandwidth issues, but it’s also more secure. These platforms securely host your stream behind your user account, eliminating the security risk of exposing your camera directly to the internet. These platforms also have built-in protections and security protocols that help keep your content safe.

So, once your stream is set up, embedding it on your website gives you:

• A professional-looking stream right on your site
• Minimal demand on your internet connection
• Better privacy and security for your camera and network

Where to Find Your Embed Code

Before you can embed your stream on your website, you’ll need to get the embed code from the livestream platform you’re using. Both YouTube Live and Twitch make this process fairly straightforward.

YouTube Live

First, confirm that embedding is allowed for your stream. It’s usually enabled by default, but it’s a sensible idea to double-check.

1. Go to your YouTube Studio, open your live stream, and click Edit.
2. Scroll down to find the “Allow embedding” checkbox and make sure it’s checked.

   Note: Private streams cannot be embedded. Your stream must be Public or Unlisted.

After embedding is enabled:

3. Open your stream on YouTube as if you were a viewer. You can do this by:
   • Searching for the title of your live stream on YouTube, or
   • Clicking the Share button from YouTube Studio and clicking the stream link.
4. Click the Share button below the live stream at the right-hand side, then click Embed.

5. In the pop-up window, HTML code will appear. It should auto-highlight when you click it. If not, manually highlight it with your mouse.
6. Right-click the highlighted code and click Copy.

7. Open Notepad (or any text editor), right-click, and Paste the code. Save it for later use on your website.

Twitch

1. Open your Twitch stream like a viewer would. The easiest way is to go to:
   www.twitch.tv/your-twitch-username (Replace your-twitch-username with your actual Twitch handle.)
2. Click the Share icon (it looks like an arrow coming out of a tray) under the video, then click Embed.

3. In the pop-up window, the HTML embed code will appear. Select and copy the code in the "Using an iframe" section as pictured below. You can do this by:
   • Click-and-drag to highlight the embed code.
   • Right-click and select Copy.

4. Open Notepad or another text editor, then right-click and paste the embed code into the notepad.

5. Find the part of the code that includes &parent=www.example.com. Replace www.example.com with your website.

   For example: &parent=www.cctvcameraworld.com

   Twitch needs this final step to determine which domains it has permission to send your stream to.

How to Add the Embed Code to Your Website

In this example, we’ll show you how to embed your stream in a WordPress post, but the process is similar for most content management systems (CMS). If your site doesn’t use a CMS, you can paste the embed code directly into the HTML of your webpage where you want the stream to appear.

For this walkthrough, we’ll create a new post, but you can also add the embed to an existing post or page if you already have a suitable spot for it.

Steps for WordPress:

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Click Posts in the sidebar, then click Add New Post.

3. WordPress may default to the Visual Editor. To switch to the HTML code view:
   • Click the three-dot menu (top right).
   • Under the Editor section, select Code Editor.

4. Enter a title for your post and write some introductory text above the video embed.
5. Open your Notepad or text editor where you saved the embed code.
6. Highlight the entire <iframe> embed code, right-click, and choose Copy.

7. Go back to your WordPress post body, right-click, and Paste the embed code where you want it to appear.

8. Add any additional text or formatting to the post as needed.
9. When you're ready, click Publish to make your post and embedded stream live on your website.

Tip: You can preview the post as a draft before publishing to make sure the stream looks correct and is loading properly.

Live Stream Embedding Customization and Best Practices

Now that your stream is on your site, you may want to customize its appearance and ensure it runs smoothly.

This section covers simple ways to adjust the size and layout of your stream, make sure it works well on mobile devices, and avoid common mistakes that could prevent it from loading properly.

Whether you're using WordPress or editing your site manually, following these tips will help your embedded stream look excellent and function reliably.

Adjusting the Size and Layout

To control how your embedded stream appears on the page, consider these tips:

• Resize the embed by modifying the width and height attributes inside the <iframe> tag.
• Wrap the embed in a <div> container if you want more layout control. This makes it easier to position or style the video using CSS.
• To center the stream on the page, add the style="text-align:center;" attribute to the parent <div>, like this:

		
			<div style="text-align:center;">
				<!-- your iframe embed code here -->
			</div>
		
	

Adding a Heading or Description

Adding some text around your embedded stream can help with visitor clarity and search engine optimization.

• Add a heading above the video using an <h2> or <h3> tag, such as:

  		
  			<h2>Our Office Livestream</h2>
  		
  	

• Beneath the stream, add a short message like:

  		
  			<p>If the video does not load, please refresh the page.</p>
  		
  	

Real Embedded Live Stream Example

To help you visualize how a properly embedded stream should look, here’s a screenshot of a real example taken from our Live Streaming Example page. This stream is embedded directly into the webpage using the same steps outlined above and comes from one of our customers who allowed us to feature it.

Use this as a reference to compare. If your embed doesn’t appear similar or isn’t loading, revisit the previous steps or review the best practices we covered.