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Drawinguser's avatar
Drawinguser
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Streaming videos synchronised with Windows Explorer

Hello,

A couple of months ago, my video files seemed to be streaming from Windows Explorer instead of having to wait for the entire video to download, but I cannot see anywhere in settings that this option is available.

Especially with large video files, the fact that it isn't possible to stream is quite a nuisance. One would assume streaming of video files would be optimal from a Dropbox bandwidth point of view as well.

Is there any way this can be set up?

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey Drawinguser, thanks for reaching out to us.

     

    Just to clarify, are you double clicking on video files in your Dropbox folder and they're not playing?

     

    And are these files currently set to "online-only"?

     

    And are you having any issues playing them, if you right-click on them and choose "make available offline"?

     

    Keep me posted.

    • Drawinguser's avatar
      Drawinguser
      Explorer | Level 3

      Hannah, I forgot about this. Yes, I'm talking about online only files. When I double click on them, they first fully download and then play. When the file is multiple GB, this can sometimes take a while. It would be much better if it would instantly open and download as it plays (i.e. the video would stream).

      • Hannah's avatar
        Hannah
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        No worries, Drawinguser.

         

        What you're describing is actually the expected behavior, but we really appreciate your feedback on this.

         

        I will make sure to pass your comments along to our developers.

         

        In the meantime, if you'd like to save time and have enough hard drive space, you can select the files, right click on them and switch them to "available offline" beforehand.

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