Purpose: Despite the expansion of e-learning, higher education still involves live lectures, which students often see as "boring". Lecture classes can be made more engaging and effective by including videos. However, empirical research is yet to report on current video use in lectures, or on student perceptions of and preferences for videos. The purpose of this paper is to fill that knowledge gap. Design/methodology/approach: A two-stage mixed-method study used focus groups to gain a rich understanding of student's video experiences, preferences and the types of videos they are shown. These understandings were utilised in a detailed on-line survey questionnaire, which was completed by a diverse sample of 773 university students, who responded about their recent in-class video experiences. Findings: Students report that about 87 per cent of lecture classes included one or more videos. This paper reports on instructor practices, develops a video typology and reports on students' preferred frequency, type of video, video source, video length and existing vs preferred video integration methods. Practical implications: The results provide useful information for educational administrators. Recommendations are made for effective use of videos in lectures by instructors. Originality/value: This is the first qualitative and survey research investigating current practice and student perceptions of video use during lecture classes. The authors also conduct the first survey with a broad sample across universities and academic disciplines using the unit of analysis of videos seen per course last week. Typologies of sources of videos, instructional functions, video facilitation techniques and types of videos used during lectures are proposed and then measured.