Uploading a presentation to a webinar

Published Aug 4, 2026

General

You can add presentations, images, YouTube or Vimeo videos, polls, tests and call to action buttons to a webinar in two ways. Upload them from the control panel while you are planning the event, or upload them from inside the webinar room while you prepare or run it.

What changes depending on where you upload

Where you upload from decides where the file is stored and who it belongs to. A file uploaded from the control panel lands in your main storage, and you then assign it to a webinar and to a presenter by hand. A file uploaded from inside the room is available in that webinar straight away and is tied to the presenter you are signed in as.

Size limits and processing time

A presentation can be up to 200 MB and up to 200 slides. A video file can be up to 1 GB. The upload takes .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .pptsx, .ppsx and .odp for slides, .png, .jpg and .jpeg for images, and .mp4, .mov, .webm, .mkv and .mp3 for media, which file formats covers in full.

Every file is processed before you can show it. The platform converts your presentation into its own internal format, so the slides look the same on every device. That format carries no animation and no embedded video. If your deck relies on builds, or on a clip playing inside a slide, neither survives the conversion. Upload the video as a separate file instead.

How long the conversion takes depends on the number of slides and what is inside them. A large file can take up to about 10 minutes. Leave room for both the upload and the conversion if you are adding materials shortly before the event starts.

There are two ways to get a deck in front of an audience, and they behave differently enough to be worth choosing on purpose.

An uploaded presentation is split into slides and each slide travels to every viewer as an image of its own rather than as part of the video coming out of the room. Text therefore lands on their screen as sharp as it is on yours, instead of softening the way a shared screen does once it has been through video compression. It also looks the same on every device, and somebody watching on a phone gets the same slide as somebody on a large monitor. Nobody has to install anything to see it.

What you give up is motion. Each slide becomes a static page, so builds, transitions and audio embedded in the deck do not survive the conversion. If your material depends on any of those, share your screen instead and run the deck from your own machine, where it plays exactly as it does locally. That route needs our broadcasting software on your side, which why screen sharing requires our software explains, while your audience still installs nothing either way.

Whichever you pick, readable slides beat clever ones. Arial, Tahoma, Verdana and Times New Roman at 14 pixels or more hold up best, and file formats covers the conversion in full.

Uploading from the control panel

Open "Storage" in the control panel and stay on its "Files" tab. "Upload a file" takes a presentation or an image, and "Add YouTube or Vimeo" takes a link instead of a file.

The Files tab of Storage with the Upload a file button and the type filters

Pick your file and the upload starts on its own. The row appears at the top of the list marked "Processing…" while the platform converts it.

The new file at the top of the list marked as processing

When the conversion finishes the row shows what you actually have, which is the format, the number of pages and the size.

The converted file showing its format, page count and size

The three dots at the end of the row hold "View", "Download", "Settings" and "Delete". "Settings" opens "Edit file", where you rename the file, assign it to a webinar and hand it to a particular moderator. Save when you are done.

The Edit file panel with the name, webinar and moderator fields

A file with no webinar assigned stays in storage and shows up nowhere, so this step is what makes it available in the event.

Uploading from the webinar room

Enter the room and click "Show" in the left toolbar. The materials panel has seven tabs, which are "Presentations", "Media", "Screen", "Recordings", "Polls", "Surveys" and "CTAs", so a slide deck belongs on the first.

The materials panel of the webinar room with its seven tabs and the plus button

Click the "+" button, or drag the file straight onto the list, which the panel invites you to do. Upload and conversion run exactly as they do in the control panel, and the file is ready to show the moment they finish. The "Media" tab works the same way, with a field for a YouTube or Vimeo link beside "Select file", which YouTube live stream playback covers.

Which method to choose

The control panel suits early preparation, when you are gathering and organising materials well before the event. Use the webinar room for a quick upload once the event is running.

Presentations, images, polls, tests and call to action buttons all follow the same process, so once you have uploaded one file the other tools work the same way. A single file can be assigned to more than one webinar and to different presenters, so you do not have to upload the same deck twice.

If a file will not upload, or it arrives in the room looking wrong, open the online chat and tell us the format, the size and which of the routes above you used.

Frequently asked questions

My slide builds and the video inside my deck do not play. What happened?

The conversion removed them, because the platform converts your presentation into its own internal format so the slides look the same on every device, and that format carries no animation and no embedded video. Upload the video as a separate file instead, which the platform accepts up to 1 GB.

I uploaded the file but it does not appear in my webinar. What did I miss?

Almost certainly the assignment step, because a file with no webinar assigned stays in storage and shows up nowhere. Open the three dots at the end of the row and choose "Settings", which opens "Edit file", where you rename the file, assign it to a webinar and hand it to a particular moderator. Save when you are done.

How long before the event should I upload my slides?

Leave room for both the upload and the conversion, because every file is processed before you can show it and a large one can take up to about 10 minutes. How long it takes depends on the number of slides and what is inside them. The row sits at the top of the list marked "Processing…" until the platform finishes.

Can I play a video during the webinar?

Yes, as a separate file of up to 1 GB in .mp4, .mov, .webm, .mkv or .mp3, since a clip playing inside a slide does not survive the conversion. You can also point at one instead of uploading it, because "Add YouTube or Vimeo" in "Storage" takes a link, and the room's "Media" tab has the same field beside "Select file". That side is covered in YouTube live stream playback.

I run the same webinar every month. Do I have to upload the deck each time?

No, a single file can be assigned to more than one webinar and to different presenters, so one upload covers every run. Uploading from the control panel is what makes that easy, because the file lands in your main storage and you assign it by hand. A file uploaded from inside the room is available in that webinar straight away instead, and is tied to the presenter you are signed in as.