Everything you should know about Bing Videos

What is Bing Videos?

Bing Videos is nothing but a video search service from Microsoft that let you search videos. However, there is little difference between Bing Video Search and other Search Engines. You can search videos and play most of them without leaving Bing, but other search engines send you to the website that originally published the video. So Bing Videos is a Video Search Engine as well as Video Player.

Bing Videos was released in September 2007, more than 2 years later of YouTube launch. It was originally named as Live Search Videos, but Microsoft decided to change its name later, and it was rebranded as Bing Videos in June 2009.

Bing Videos doesn’t let users upload their own videos like other video streaming service providers. It comes with some limited features to play with, and that’s the primary reason it is not as popular as YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe etc..

What you can do on Bing Videos?

A user can visit bing.com/videos/, type the keyword or search terms for the kind of video he/she is looking for. Bing will bring the videos from various websites to its search platform, and will show together. You can click on the video and start playing right there without leaving Bing. The user interface looks like a Videos streaming website, but in reality it is a search engine. All the videos you Play on Bing Videos are linked to its original publisher. The link can be seen underneath video player (check screenshot).

Bing Videos also let users watch preview before playing any videos. You can simply hover the mouse pointer on video, and it will start playing for a few seconds. Bing doesn’t upload videos on its own server, but it still let users save it for quick access. You get the save option while playing preview of a video (check screenshot below). A Video can also be saved when you are watching it, the save icon can be found on the right, underneath video player.

You must be logged in with your Microsoft Account to save videos. All the saved videos can be accessed from bing.com/videos/favorites. Save Video option is still in beta mode. Here is the screenshot how it looks like;

When you search videos on Bing, it finds all the relevant videos for you, and also shows suggestions/related video links or thumbnail on the top, middle and bottom of the page. You can also filter search result based on video resolution, length, date and video source. A link to all saved/favorited videos is also shown on the page (check the screenshot below).

Why Bing Videos is the best place to search videos?

• You can watch videos uploaded on most of the major video streaming websites as well as many other news websites at one place. (Note : Some videos can’t be played on Bing, so it will take you to the source website).
• If you search videos on Vimeo, Metacafe, YouTube or any other website, you are limited to that specific site. There is possibility that a video you are looking for is not available on YouTube, but it is on Vimeo, Mail.ru or any other website. You don’t need to get worried about such things while using Bing Videos.
• Save all your favorite videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe etc. at one place.

How to download a Video from Bing Videos?

You can download almost all the videos from Bing Videos Using Flash Video Downloader extension. However, if a Video source is YouTube, you won’t get the download option. There are many other ways to save YouTube videos that you can follow.

Adult or Restricted Videos on Bing

As we said that Bing brings videos from various video streaming websites at one place. It is applicable for adult and pornographic content as well. Bing applies filters to Video search based on your Country selection for Bing Account and IP. For example, a user from United Arab Emirates can change his/her location to United States from Bing Settings, but the filter will not be removed unless the IP/browser location is changed. IP or Virtual location can be changed via VPN app or VPN extension. Bing prompts users if they want to turn off safe search. Once it is turned off, all the restrictions or filters will be lifted, and the user can play any videos.