Patreon doesn’t allow custom JavaScript or HTML embed codes in posts, so you can’t embed a SmartVideo player directly on a Patreon page. This is a Patreon restriction, not a SmartVideo limitation.
The workaround
You can still use SmartVideo to deliver videos to your patrons — here’s how:
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Set up SmartVideo on a website you control. This can be WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, or even a simple one-page site. If you don’t have a website yet, platforms like Carrd let you create a basic page in minutes.
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Add the SmartVideo snippet to your site’s header. Log in to the SmartVideo Dashboard, open the configuration wizard, and copy the JavaScript snippet into your site’s
<head>section. -
Embed your video on a page. Add a SmartVideo tag to any page on your site:
<smartvideo src="https://your-video.example.com/file.mp4" width="1280" height="720" class="swarm-fluid" controls></smartvideo>- Share the page link on Patreon. Paste the URL of your video page into a Patreon post. Your patrons click through to watch — and they get the full SmartVideo experience: ad-free, optimized playback, and download protection.
Don’t share the raw video link
If you upload a video to your SmartVideo Library, you may come across an internal file URL that looks like https://files.swarmify.com/videos/.../tag. Don’t paste that link into your Patreon post. It’s an internal source address, not a shareable viewing link — anyone who clicks it lands on a Swarmify login page instead of your video.
Always share the link to the page on your own site where you embedded the video (step 4 above), never the raw files.swarmify.com URL.
What your patrons see
Your patrons don’t need a Swarmify account, and they never pay Swarmify anything. When you share the link to your own video page, they click through and the video just plays — ad-free and optimized. Your SmartVideo account is the only one involved; it quietly handles hosting and delivery in the background.
If a patron tells you they’re being asked to log in to Swarmify or pay Swarmify, it almost always means the raw files.swarmify.com/.../tag link got shared instead of your page link. Swap it for your own page’s URL and they’ll be able to watch right away.
Tips
- You can create one page per video or a single page with multiple videos — whatever works for your content.
- If you want to restrict access, use your website’s built-in password protection or membership features to lock the page.
- Your SmartVideo account handles all the video hosting and delivery — Patreon is just the link-sharing layer.
If you don’t have a SmartVideo account yet, create one here.
Other platforms with the same limitation
Some other platforms also restrict custom embeds: Substack, Medium, and most email newsletter tools. The same workaround applies — host on your own site and share the link.
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