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Forum Discussion
Improving Dropbox video preview quality - thinking outside the box
The poor quality of the Dropbox transcoded preview has been discussed over the years, particularly between 2015-2017. Over the last six years, internet speeds have changed remarkably and online stre...
I just upgraded my account pro plus and it appears to me playback quality online seems low res.
The file dowloads full resolution and looks great but not during playback online thru dropbox. Is there a setting for this?
You are correct However I have some clients that would preffer to use dropbox so I was trying to appease them.
I would rather have know this first, this just adds another step for my process.Please Please. The video quality is so bad that I am ashamed to send the link to clients.
It would be great if the qualitiy would be improved - even just a little bit. Also audio is very crappy.
On google Drive you can play videos in full resolution!
I'm shure dropbox can find a way.Video quality is soo poor that we are forced to use Vimeo and set up new portfolios on a weekly bases in order to send videos to clients so that they can preview files. Dropbox still has not improved video playback in the 3 years i have been using it
StefanieDropbox Staff
Hi all,
Just wanted to thrown in an explanation about video preview quality. Dropbox actually transcodes several versions of your video for you with different level of quality. Depending on your internet connection at the time of the request, Dropbox will serve the preview in the most appropriate quality. We don't want to serve a very high quality preview if you are on a flaky internet connection because it would take a very long time for the video to buffer. This is why if you're on a slow internet connection, you may see a lower quality preview.
Like Mark also pointed out before, please keep in mind that these are only previews of your videos. Happy to take your feedback back to our product managers and let them know you'd appreciate having a banner/button asking the recipient to download in order to get the file in its original quality.
Best,
Sofia
I'm sorry but I did try watching videos on two different computer with wired connection in two different networks and both presented the same low quality video
By experience this is not true. I had several issues with video playback quality running on dropbox even with high internet speeds as compared to what I am using now for video playback which is screenlight. Try it and compare. use the same computer and the same internet connection and see the BIG difference.
Hello. It makes sense that the video quality would be chosen based on quality of the internet conntecton. If it worked like this all the time, it would be great. However, I have a reliable 100 Mbps connection, and I regularly get an overly-compressed version of my videos when I test dropbox links in a browser. A manual override (HD) button... or better yet, a (SD) or slow/low signal override button would be better than the automatic detection for the times where some combination of dropbox, OS, browser, and hardware are not communicating properly. Thanks! B
I have the same problem. I was thinking about upgrading but the poor quality playback of video files that are 1080p playing poorly through Dropbox makes me reconsider.
Will Dropbox be thinking of ways to allow high resolution streaming?
If your going to do something, might as well make sure its done well. Not much point having the ability to play videos if the quality is going to be poor.
Thanks for chiming in Sofia, that might help a little:) My customers usually don't want to download, so it would be better to have an "HQ" button enabling users to force high quality playback at their own peril. In my ideal world opening a video would look like this:
I work as an animator and what I and everyone working with film uses dropbox for is quick sharing of video previews. highres video streaming would be very helpful for us. If a competitor got highres previews we'd probably leave dropbox.
Yes just found some other information and not too happy that you can't play full resolution thru Dropbox.
However my Vimeo account has no problem to view full resolution even while online. Dropbox should really consider a way to view
the view full res video files thru Dropbox. Kinda a buzz kill as I just upgraded for a year mainly for video purpose.- Robert S.
Super User alumni
The web player delivers a transcoded, browser-
friendly fifteen minute preview.To view a video in its original full-length HD
glory, it's necessary do download and play
locally. Why does Dropbox compress video files and how to you change this?
- Rich
Super User II
Is there a way to disable online playback?
No, but you can change the link that you send them so that they're only presented with a download. Change the ?dl=0 at the end of the link to ?dl=1 and it will force a download.
- Mark
Robert isnt lying at all. What you see on the website is a preview of it. These are encoded at a set rate and play for a maximum of 15 mins. To see the full version, or longer files, you need to download it.
Robert, you're lying and you know it. Plenty of my uploaded photos get compressed and I can't figure out how to stop it from happening. Personal experience, Dropbox 3.8.6, Windows 10 Pro.
Thanks for the interest Sofia, and the idea Haakon.
It would be useful to have some option/s on the upload end as clients sometimes don't know what they are doing when they click on a dropbox link. I've just had experiences where clients have viewed the video via dropbox link, obviously had it on a very low quality and then sent me lengthy emails complaining about the poor audio/video/speed etc.
Appreciate the response and ideas for solutions as we enjoy using dropbox!
