Why can't I play video in its full lenght

[Morten A.]

I got a link to an mp4 private video. When I start the video it only last for 15 minutes. I know that the duration is app. 1 hour and other members of the shared link can see the full video. My question - Why can I only stream some of the video?

Just saw a message 'this is a partial preview. To Watch full movie download it to your dropbox.

Okay did so and it Works, but now my dropbox is full. Can't I just stream it without having to save it???

[Rich]

When I start the video it only last for 15 minutes.

That is by design. What you're watching on the Dropbox website is a transcoded preview of the video, limited to 15 minutes of playback. To watch the entire video you need to download it to your computer first.

Can't I just stream it without having to save it???

Not for more than 15 minutes. Dropbox is not a streaming service.

but now my dropbox is full.

Save it to another location on your computer, instead of your Dropbox folder, and it won't use space in your account.

[Morten A.]

Thank you so much for your answer Rich. Have a nice day.

[OffSet D.]

What about streaming feature from the Android app? I can play short or lightweight video files in my tablet or phone but I cannot step forward (going to the medium part of the stream p.e.) when playing big video files (2 Gbs p.e.).

The image gets permanently frozen and no bandwith it's used so it's not a buffering issue.

Any ideas? Thank you. 

[Tony R.12]

Until last week I could send links to stream videos from my Dropbox to other people's mobile devices. So what changed?

[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.]