Video and document support inside your app’s rich text editor (RTE) is no longer "nice to have" in modern, content-driven applications. It's table stakes. And while video and visuals are powerful, they also come with a familiar set of frustrations for the teams responsible for shipping and maintaining it.
Large files slow pages down. Media pipelines sprawl across editors, CDNs, and third-party platforms. Bandwidth costs climb quietly in the background. Security and compliance concerns grow louder. Somewhere along the way, media isn’t content anymore, and starts behaving like infrastructure.
Media Optimizer (powered by Uploadcare) is the answer to all those problems. The newest TinyMCE feature brings images, video, and documents into a single, optimized, secure workflow. Here, your files behave like the content they are…Instead of an unwieldy system you have to build and maintain.
What is Media Optimizer?
TinyMCE’s Media Optimizer is a native media and file optimization plugin that lets your users upload and optimize media and documents right inside the RTE. No external platforms, no dependencies without support, no stitched-together workflows for you or your team. When your app handles all your files in one unified pipeline, your users can work where they already are. You get adaptive delivery and secure handling by default, and worry less about formats, performance, or hosting.
Unified image and video optimization
With Media Optimizer, images and video follow the same rules–users upload once, and the system takes care of the rest. There's no separate workflow to design, and no video optimization logic for you to maintain. Media is treated consistently, which makes both app development and application architecture simpler.
Adaptive delivery for performance and cost control
Media Optimizer automatically delivers the right version of each file based on the content viewer's device, browser, and connection. This means:
- Formats are selected automatically.
- Media sizes and bitrates adapt on the fly.
- Your app’s pages load faster without sacrificing quality.
For high-traffic applications, this also translates directly into reduced bandwidth usage and lower delivery costs without manual optimization or custom CDN configuration.
Self-hosted video with <uc-video>
Though Media Optimizer works best with TinyMCE Cloud and the Uploadcare dashboard, the plugin also supports self-hosted, adaptive video using the <uc-video> element. Videos play responsively, load efficiently, and stay entirely within your product experience. It’s quick to get a video that looks and behaves like part of your app, even when you self-host. Read more about how to optimize images with TinyMCE and Uploadcare.
Built-in security and compliance
Much like TinyMCE’s built-in security, Media Optimizer makes content compliance part of the pipeline. All uploaded files are scanned for malware and unsafe content, and delivery is handled within a framework designed for GDPR and SOC 2 compliance to support TinyMCE’s security policies. You don't need to add extra checks because secure uploads are the default with Media Optimizer.
Now supporting documents
Media Optimizer doesn’t just streamline images and video. It now supports document uploads too. That means your users can insert PDFs, Word files, and other supported document types directly into TinyMCE, and they’ll benefit from the same adaptive delivery and security features that Media Optimizer brings to media.
Documents are treated just like other file types:
- Upload and preview inside the editor.
- Securely scan for malware during upload.
- Automatically optimize delivery depending on the document type and context.
Whether it's a PDF whitepaper embedded in a CMS, a training document in an LMS, or an internal policy in an enterprise app, Media Optimizer now gives you one consistent pipeline for all your media and file types.
📝 Note: Media Optimizer’s file upload features are different from TinyMCE’s import from Word, export to Word, and export to PDF features.
Who is Media Optimizer built for?
Media Optimizer is designed for teams building content-driven applications who need video, images, and documents to be reliable and performant in the app they’re developing.
For devs
Media Optimizer removes an entire class of problems from your backlog. There's no custom CDN logic to maintain, no manual compression or transcoding, and no need to stitch together third-party SDKs. One native plugin handles the full media lifecycle.
For product managers and architects
Shipping media shouldn't mean shipping long-term architectural debt. Media Optimizer helps teams move faster by reducing dependencies and simplifying media workflows. Performance improves, infrastructure costs drop, and media stops being a special case that requires ongoing exceptions.
For users
From the user's perspective, Media Optimizer just works. Images and video can be uploaded, edited, and embedded directly inside TinyMCE, with consistent performance and no technical guesswork. Content creation stays smooth, focused, and predictable, even as media usage grows.
How Media Optimizer fits into your app
Media Optimizer is a natural fit for any application where file optimization matters. Common use cases include:
- Media-rich content management systems and digital experience platforms
- Learning management systems for academic and internal enterprise platforms
- Internal SaaS apps that need fast, reliable media at scale
In each case, the goal is the same: content that’s reliable and performant, without slowing down your users or your team.
Try Media Optimizer for yourself
Sometimes the biggest productivity wins come from removing problems altogether. Media Optimizer alleviates challenges for the teams who need to streamline asset management and simplify their file optimization. If you're ready to see how simplifying file management works in your app, contact your TinyMCE representative or explore Media Optimizer in action on the TinyMCE site.
