If you uploaded a video as your Space background but the experience shows a black screen instead of your video, the cause is almost always the first frame of the video.
Why does this happen?
When you upload a video background, the platform automatically takes the first frame of the video to generate a static thumbnail and use as the background fallback. If the first frame of your video is black - for example because the video starts with a fade-in, a blank title card, or a few frames of black leader - the background will render as black in the live experience, even though the thumbnail picker may show the correct image.
How to fix it
- Go back into the Space editor and navigate to the background/environment section.
- Remove the current video and re-upload it.
- When the thumbnail selection step appears, do not accept the auto-selected first frame. Instead, scroll through the available thumbnail options and select a frame that clearly shows your intended background image.
- Save your selection and republish the Space.
Prevention tip
Before uploading, check whether your video has a black opening. If it does, trim the black frames from the start of the video using any video editor before uploading, so the first frame is always your intended background image.
Still seeing a black background after following these steps?
Submit a support ticket with your Space URL and the video file name so the team can investigate.