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Why won't my BBCode [video] tag display YouTube or Vimeo videos in a Text element?

Learn why BBCode video tags no longer display external videos in Bubble Text elements, and what alternatives you can use instead.

Written by Sofia Maconi
Updated this week

Embedding videos via the BBCode [video]...[/video] tag in Text elements no longer works for external providers like YouTube or Vimeo. This was intentionally disabled for security reasons — allowing arbitrary URLs in [video] tags opened the door to malicious JavaScript being run in your app.

What you might notice

  • Videos embedded with [video]...[/video] tags in a Text element don't display

  • An error appears indicating the video can't be played

  • This may have worked previously in your app

Workarounds

You have a few alternatives depending on your setup:

  • Use a Video element and enter the video URL directly — this is the most straightforward replacement.

  • Use the Rich Text Editor plugin and add the video URL with the appropriate tags to display it.

  • For YouTube videos specifically, the [youtube]...[/youtube] BBCode tag (with the video ID, not the full URL) still works in Text elements.

Status

This is a deliberate security constraint, not a bug, so we don't plan to restore [video] tag support for external providers. The workarounds above cover the most common use cases.

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