Re: Improving Dropbox video preview quality - thinking outside the box

Dropbox doesn't change your files in any way.

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.

Video files don't appear "compressed" in size, i.e. they're the same size on my desktop as they are in drop box, but the video playback online "appears" very compressed that's for sure, compared to when I upload to amazon S3. 

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. 

That's exactly what I said. Files aren't compressed, but the playback online definitely appears that way. If you download or share the video to be downloaded (i.e not played online) it'll be the full, original version. If you share the link to be watched in a browser, you'll notice a significant quality loss, which could be interpreted as the actual file being "compressed" - which it actually isn't. 

Is there a way to disable online playback?  I have clients who have gone nuts because, despite my instructions to download the video, they just click on that arrow, and see a horribly pixilated version of their program.  They are really upset, and worst of all, I've learned that some of them did not tell me why they were upset, leaving me with a potential ex-client.

PLEASE allow me to disable video preview.  Or I'm outta here.

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.

You are a lifesaver.  Thank you so much!

Robert is correct. Dropbox don't modify your original files. Just share the link with the 1 at the end and your clients will be forced to download the video.

Okay.  I tried changing ?dl=0 to ?dl=1.    

That link immediately initiates a download.  

But there are two problems: 

1. 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.

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

Added note: When I tried to create a link of only the one video file, the URL did not have ?dl=0 at the end.  So I created a link for the entire folder, which did create a URL ending in ?dl=0.  Even though the folder contains only one file, the result was a .zip file.  Is there a way to create the forced-download URL of a single file, at the file level?

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.]