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Introduction to MediaShield

A protected video playing in the MediaShield player with the “Protected by MediaShield” badge visible A protected video in the frontend player. The dynamic watermark and “Protected by MediaShield” badge are visible during playback.

MediaShield is a WordPress plugin that adds a protection and analytics layer on top of your videos. Version 1.1.0.

It works with videos hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, Bunny Stream, Wistia, or your own server. Once a video is registered in MediaShield, the plugin wraps it in a protected player that adds:

  • A dynamic watermark showing the viewer’s identity on every frame
  • Login and role-based access control
  • Concurrent stream limiting (one account, limited devices)
  • Session tracking: how long each viewer watched, how far they got, and which milestones they reached
  • Developer-tools detection and right-click blocking
  • Playlist support with autoplay and countdown

What MediaShield is for

Section titled “What MediaShield is for”

MediaShield is built for online course creators, membership site owners, and anyone delivering video to a paying or gated audience on WordPress. The typical use case is a course or training library where you want to:

  1. Make sure only paying members can watch
  2. Know who watched what and for how long
  3. Be able to trace any leaked recording back to the viewer
  4. Limit account sharing

What MediaShield does not promise

Section titled “What MediaShield does not promise”

No WordPress video plugin can block screen recording. MediaShield makes recordings traceable - not impossible to make. The dynamic watermark shows the viewer’s name and IP address on every frame, so if content leaks, you know exactly who leaked it. This is the right model for WordPress-native video protection at this price point.

For a full explanation of the threat model and its limits, see the Protection Philosophy section.

Free vs Pro

Section titled “Free vs Pro”

The free plugin ships a complete protection and analytics layer. MediaShield Pro adds features that go beyond the baseline:

Feature Free Pro
Dynamic watermark (name + IP) Yes Yes, with 7 configurable fields
Login and role access control Yes Yes
Concurrent stream limit Yes Yes
Session tracking and milestones Yes Yes
Playlists Yes Yes
Analytics dashboard Yes Yes (plus heatmaps, realtime, and alerts)
Right-click and devtools protection Yes Yes
Platform API connections (Bunny, YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia) No Yes
ClearKey DRM for self-hosted video No Yes
LMS integrations (LearnDash, LifterLMS, TutorLMS) No Yes
Email gate (capture email before play) No Yes
Data export (CSV, PDF) No Yes
Suspicious activity alerts No Yes

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • WordPress 6.5 or higher
  • PHP 8.1 or higher
  • A modern browser for the admin (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”