Organize and Use the Media Library

The media library is where you manage the files that support your lessons, such as images, audio, video, and documents.

If you plan to build more than a few activities, organization matters early.

What belongs in the media library

Typical assets include:

• Photos and illustrations
• Audio prompts
• Generated sound effects
• Video clips
• Classroom handouts or reference files
• Reusable design elements

These assets can then be used inside widgets like image, audio, and video.

Some files arrive on their own. When you create a lesson from a template that has pictures or sounds (such as Articulation /r/), or add a tutorial's lesson to your account, Berdee copies those files into your library. They are yours like any upload: use them in another lesson, or delete them when no lesson needs them.

What you can do inside the media library

The media library is not just storage. It is also the main workflow for selecting media for image, audio, and video widgets.

Inside the library, you can:

• Browse owned media
• Upload new files
• Search your own files and the stock libraries together, from one box
• Generate new images, or remix one you already have or found in stock — see Generate Images with AI
• Generate new audio sound effects
• Preview audio before you place it on a scene
• Switch between grid and list views
• Filter files by name
• Insert media directly into the selected widget

That matters because the library is now where selection, sourcing, and organization come together.

Uploading new media

Uploading is the right choice when you already have the file and want it to become part of your reusable library.

Good examples:

• Classroom photos
• Teacher narration
• A short demo video
• School-owned diagrams
• A licensed asset you plan to use again

Once uploaded, the file becomes owned media and can be reused later without re-uploading it.

What you can upload

Every file can be up to 10 MB.

A few files come up often enough to call out:

• iPhone photos (HEIC). iPhones save photos as HEIC, which most students' browsers can't show, so Berdee doesn't take them yet. Export the photo as a JPEG first (in Photos on a Mac, File › Export), or set your iPhone to Settings › Camera › Formats › Most Compatible so it saves new photos as JPEG. Photos you upload from Safari on the iPhone itself are usually converted to JPEG for you.
• QuickTime videos (.mov). Many students' browsers can't play them. Export the video as an MP4 (on a Mac, File › Export in QuickTime Player; most phone and video apps have an MP4 or "Most Compatible" option) and upload that.
• Longer videos. Videos are capped at 10 MB, which is well under a minute of phone video. For anything longer, put it on YouTube and paste the link into the video widget's URL or YouTube link field.
• Animated GIFs can't be added — see Some images can't be used. A GIF that doesn't move is fine.
• Voice memos (M4A) from a phone or a Mac upload as they are.
• Large photos don't need shrinking first. When students play a lesson, Berdee sends them a copy sized for the screen (up to 1,920 pixels on the long side), so a camera photo loads quickly on a school network or an older tablet. Your original stays in the library at full size, and the studio still shows it.

If an upload doesn't work

Each file that didn't upload shows why, right under its name, so you know what to change:

• "This file is over 10 MB…" — export a smaller or compressed version, or for video use a YouTube link as above. Berdee checks the size before sending anything, so you hear about it straight away.
• "This file type isn't supported…" — the message lists the formats above. Save the file in one of them and upload again.
• "You've uploaded a lot just now…" — there's a limit of 60 uploads an hour. Wait a few minutes, then use Retry.
• "Please agree to the updated Terms of Service…" — we've updated our terms; agree to them in the window that opens, then Retry.
• "This image can't be used in Berdee." — see Some images can't be used.
• "…Check your connection and try again." — something went wrong on the way. Retry sends the file again.

Retry only appears when trying again can work. A file that's too big or in a format Berdee doesn't take fails the same way every time, so it has no Retry button: fix the file and upload it again.

Add an image by dropping or pasting it

When you already have the picture in front of you, you do not need the media library at all. From inside the studio:

• Drag an image file from your desktop straight onto the canvas. It lands where you let go of it.
• Copy an image anywhere — a web page, a document, a screenshot — and press ⌘ V (Ctrl V). It lands in the middle of the canvas view.

Either way Berdee uploads the file and turns it into an image widget for you, sized to the picture's own shape. A tall portrait arrives tall and a wide banner arrives wide, so you are not fixing a squashed photo before you have even looked at it. A small image — an icon, a stamp — arrives at its own size rather than being blown up.

Drop several files at once and they arrive as separate images, fanned out slightly so you can tell them apart and drag them where you want them.

The file joins your media library too. It is a normal uploaded asset with a thumbnail and a place in search — not a one-off stuck on that one scene. Use it again on another scene without re-uploading it.

To try it from start to finish, follow the tutorial Add your own photos by dropping them on a scene: drop three photos at once, line them up, describe them for screen readers, paste a fourth, and reuse one from the library.

If a file will not go on

Berdee tells you why, in one line above the canvas:

• Wrong kind of file. The canvas takes JPG, PNG, GIF, and WebP. Drop a PDF or a spreadsheet and you will see "Only images can be dropped on the canvas". Audio and video are added from the widget's own media picker instead — see Choose and Source Media.
• Too big. Images are capped at 10 MB each, the same limit that applies to any upload. Export the picture smaller and drop it again.
• iPhone photo (HEIC). The message says how to get a JPEG instead — see What you can upload.
• Too many uploads at once. After 60 uploads in an hour, Berdee asks you to wait a few minutes.
• "This image can't be used in Berdee." Every picture is checked before it's added, and this one didn't pass. The message has an Ask for a review link if you think that's a mistake — see Some images can't be used.
• Dropped several and only some worked. The message says how many were refused and why; everything acceptable is still added, so you only have to deal with the ones that were not.
• Image is paused. Now and then we pause a widget, usually while we fix something in it. While Image is paused, a dropped or pasted picture isn't added and nothing is uploaded; the message says Image isn't available right now. (If the pause lands while a picture is already uploading, that picture stays in your media library.) See When a widget is greyed out.

Creating new audio effects

For audio workflows, the library can also generate new sound effects from a text prompt.

A practical process looks like this:

1. Open the media library from an audio widget
2. Go to the sound effects option
3. Describe the sound you want
4. Preview the generated options
5. Save the one you want into your owned assets
6. Insert it into the scene

This is useful when you need a specific sound quickly and do not already have the file. Generating sound effects needs the Plus or Studio Pro plan, and each request uses one AI action from your monthly allowance (AI and Voice).

Searching for photos and videos

One search box covers everything. On the media page, go to Find stock; in the studio picker, use the Search tab. Berdee searches Pexels, Pixabay, Vecteezy, and your own files at the same time, and you narrow the results by content type — photos, clipart, vectors, or backgrounds — rather than by which library published them.

Your own matching files are pinned in a From your library strip above the stock results, so what you already own is always the first thing you see. A stock result you imported before is marked In your library, and clicking it reuses that file instead of downloading a duplicate.

This is especially useful when:

• A lesson needs a polished photo fast
• You want thematic images for a story or prompt
• You need a quick background visual without leaving the studio
• You want a transparent cut-out for a sorting or drag-and-drop activity

Search results can be imported into your media library so they behave like other managed media instead of feeling like one-off external links. Full walkthrough: Find Stock Images.

Search, views, and sorting

As your library grows, finding the right file matters as much as storing it.

The media library supports practical ways to narrow what you are looking at:

• Filter files by name
• Switch between grid and list views
• Sort by name, size, or upload date in list view
• Preview media before selecting it

Large libraries

Your files open newest first, 60 at a time, so even a library of thousands opens straight away. More files load as you scroll toward the bottom, or select Load more files. Below the list, a line such as "Showing 120 of 2,341 files" tells you how far you've got.

You never have to scroll to find something. The name filter and the list view's sort both cover your whole library, including files you haven't scrolled to yet: type plant-unit and every matching file comes back, wherever it sits.

Use grid view when:

• You need to recognize images quickly
• You are choosing between several visual options
• The look of the asset matters more than its file details

Use list view when:

• File names matter
• You want to compare upload dates or sizes
• You are reviewing lots of audio or document assets

Deleting a file

Deleting a file takes it out of your library and your pickers, but nothing breaks: lessons that already use it keep showing it, for you and for your students. Berdee also tells you what depends on the file before you confirm.

Two things can be true when you delete:

• A published lesson version uses the file. Berdee will not delete it. Students and buyers running that version need the file exactly as it was, so unpublish or replace the media first.
• An earlier point in a lesson's edit history uses the file. Berdee warns you — "used in the edit history of 3 lessons" — but still lets you delete. Your history is your own record and should never lock up your library. Once the file is gone for good, those older restore points will show a missing-media placeholder, and you can drop in a replacement file after restoring one.

Restoring a deleted file

Deleted files wait in Recently deleted for 30 days. To bring one back:

1. Open Media library from the sidebar.
2. Select Recently deleted at the top of the page.
3. Select Restore next to the file.

The file goes back to the folder it was in (or to the top of your library if that folder is gone), and you can use it in lessons again right away. Each file shows how many days are left, such as "12 days left".

After 30 days, Berdee removes a deleted file for good — unless a lesson still uses it. A file a lesson uses stays until no lesson does, and if you publish a lesson that uses a deleted file, Berdee restores it to your library for you.

If you are cleaning up and want your edit history to stay intact, keep the file instead of deleting it.

A practical naming pattern

Your library is one list, so file names do the organizing. For a multi-week science unit, you might name files:

• plant-unit-seed-diagram.png
• plant-unit-prompt-roots.mp3
• shared-title-banner.png

A shared prefix means typing plant-unit in the filter shows the whole unit at once.

Why organization matters in lesson design

A well-organized media library helps you:

• Build faster
• Reuse strong assets
• Keep scenes visually consistent
• Avoid uploading the same file repeatedly
• Collaborate more cleanly when multiple people are building

Tips for keeping the library clean

• Use clear, descriptive file names before upload when possible.
• Give files a shared prefix before large upload sessions, so you can filter to them later.
• Name reusable assets so they are easy to tell apart from one-off project files.
• Remove outdated files that are no longer helping you work faster.
• Name generated sound effects for their purpose, such as ui-sound-correct or story-audio-rain.
• If licensing review matters to your team, note that imported files record where they came from — open one and you will see a "From {source} · {creator}" line — so a licensing review does not depend on anyone remembering.

How assets show up in lessons

Once an asset is in the library, you can use it in places like:

• Image widgets
• Audio widgets
• Video widgets
• Scene backgrounds

That means the media library is not just storage. It is the media foundation for the experience learners see.

Recommended next reads

• Lessons and Scenes
• Choose and Source Media
• Find Stock Images
• Widgets and Widget Settings