I have an issue with my videos' quality when on the website. Can you shed some light?

[Terry H.13]

I upload videos from my iphone 6 plus. When I view them on my phone with the Dropbox app, they are far less sharp than the original. When I view them from the Dropbox website, they are better, but still not quite as good as the original. Is there some video setting I need to change? As far as I know the original files (full resolution) are what is uploaded, so the quality should be the same.

[Roger C.30]

Terry,  did you figure out an answer? I have high quality HD movies on a macbook pro, upload them to DropBox and the resulting DropBox videos have very poor resolution. Can't figure out why??? Any thoughts?

[Rick_M]

If you are using "Flash" player (?) turn off "hardware accelleration".

And remember, that playing the first 15 minutes of a video on dropbox is actually playing a "Preview File" (not the original).  To see the full quality you must download the file then play it.

[Roger C.30]

Rick, thank you very much!!

Your second comment solved my dilemma. I didn't realize that the first 15 minutes of a DropBox video plays a preview file. Once the video was downloaded, the high resolution version was immediately available and infinitely better!

Can't tell you how much I appreciate your insight. All the best - Roger

[Jonathan P.5]

I uploaded a video in 1080p.  When it plays, the resolution is considerably worse -- maybe 480?  This is true even more than 15 minutes into the video.  Am I interpreting Rick M.'s comment incorrectly.

In any event, I consider this a bug rather than a feature.  Why can't the player handle up to 1920x1080?

[Mark]

Why can't the player handle up to 1920x1080?

Because its designed to give a condensed preview of the file only. 

If you want more than 15 mins and the original quality you need to download it to your computer and play it from there. 

[Stefanie · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

Please keep in mind that the preview does not offer the same quality as the original file. Specifically, the quality of the preview depends on your internet connection at the time when you're trying to view it. 

You can always access the original quality file by downloading it to your device.

[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.]