Improving Dropbox video preview quality - thinking outside the box

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!

Also, the problematic and insecure Adobe Flash plugin is required for the video preview, at least in my browser (Pale Moon, and most probably Firefox). Why not use HTML5?

I'd also love a HQ playback option hoping it's a full-quality solution, not just a better than low-quality re-encode.

I just sent some photos via DropBox to an editor for running with a story. The editor said they were too small, they needed to be more than 2000 pixels. They were more than that on my computer, but when I went and downloaded one of the images from the DropBox folder, it was smaller than the original. So something is going on to compress the image from over 5000 pixels (300 dpi) to 2000 pixels (96 dpi).

If DropBox does NOT compress images, what is happening?

@ Bob

Is there a way to create the forced-download URL of a single file, at the file level?

In your computer, move the file to the Public folder in the Dropbox folder. Locate the file, right click and select Copy Public Link.

Share the link with your client and they will download just the file.

@Bob C

The download arrives as a .zip file.  Unless the user is set up to deal with that, it just results in more confusion and alienation.

Zip is an standard compression method today. Zip compression it's built-in in Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10.

As an alternative, you can download free 7-zip software to handle zip files.

Even though the folder contains only one file, the result was a .zip file.

That's because you're linking to a folder, and a folder will always download as a Zip. You need to link directly to the file.

In your computer, move the file to the Public folder in the Dropbox folder. Locate the file, right click and select Copy Public Link.

This isn't necessary. Just create a share link to your file (not the folder). If the link already has ?dl=0 at the end of it, change it to a 1. If it doesn't, add ?dl=1 to the end of it.

In fact, when I tried decompressing the .zip file, I was told the file was unplayable.

There are some limits to the Zip process on Dropbox. The total size cannot exceed 1GB or 10,000 files, otherwise a corrupted Zip file could be created.

If DropBox does NOT compress images, what is happening?

They (and you) were likely downloading the preview image that is displayed on the Dropbox website, which is a transcoded preview of the original. In order to download the original, unaltered file, you need to click the blue Download button in the upper right corner of the page.

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community here.]

Hi, 

I'm back again because this happened again.

I uploaded a video for delivery to client. I specifically told them to download the file as it might not stream well. But - because that play button is there they clicked on it anyway and immidiately complained that the video wasn't HD and wasn't good enough. I realise this is rather daft of them but it would really help to have that warning. 

On another note - Like the client I have a 10Mb line which streams in HD (Vimeo/YouTube etc) just fine but when I stream a dropbox link video it is choosing to stream in horribly bad quality despite the fast line. 

I've heard that Google Drive doesn't seem to have this problem. And comes with 15Gb space... 

I would never, ever have just paid $100 had I realized this. I wanted to clear space on my iPhone and Dropbox was listed as a top alternative to iCloud. What's the point of saving space on my hard drive if I just have to take that space back up (download) to watch my video the way I filmed it. Just pathetic. I will tell everyone I know to stay away from this nonsense. The idea you never intended to be a streaming or sharing service is simply false as you regularly advertise as a fine alternative to iCloud, which uploads in High res.

Most other people I know making videos use wetransfer and vimeo plus. I think I'll make the switch soon as well.