View, download, and export
Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.
The poor quality of the Dropbox transcoded preview has been discussed over the years, particularly between 2015-2017.
Over the last six years, internet speeds have changed remarkably and online streaming is now commonplace.
So our clients are unforgiving in their distaste for the Dropbox preview product.
Dropbox has made it plain, that as far as they are concerned the solution is just download. However many many clients want to be sure the product is right for them before they download.
Thinking outside the box, if we load two versions of each video, one optimised for preview, of smaller file size etc.(so clients can be sure its the product they want- but we can be certain that for instance, the preview won't be out of audio/vision sync) and the full res version for them to download.
Surely the Dropbox engineers who work on the auto transcoding know the optimum specs for the preview file?
Can that please be shared with your clients? ( after all we are supposedly on the same team)
I have asked this question via Support lines twice and zero response
Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Across all platforms, the quality of preview videos is woeful.
On desktops, you can improve Dropbox compressed video preview watchability with VLC.
But sadly it does not work on Apple devices because the Dropbox/VLC enforced default is download. Duuhhh.
What I am asking for is not for Dropbox to embark on a project, I am just asking for information.
Why is that so difficult?????
Hi @Rob Kothe, Video previews take up an extra space on the Dropbox servers and this space is not paid by you directly (indirectly, of course, you still pay for it). The worse the quality of the video preview, the less space it takes up. The less space the video previews take up, the less costs the Dropbox has.
Hey everyone!
As of September 2022 we have an update on this.
Dropbox users deserve high-resolution playback when previewing their video content.
Now you can watch in HD or 4K quality without leaving Dropbox. Basic users get HD (1080p) resolution and paid users get 4K (2160p) resolution.
Find more about this here & here.
I hope this helps!
Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
We finally left Dropbox. Having seen time after time they don't care about customers.
Quality and customer service from Vimeo is outstanding.
Hi @Jacob, I'd be happy to look into this for you!
If you try to export the content to your device, can you preview them with the desired quality?
Have you tried previewing them in the app, using your cellular data, or a different network?
Let me know more!
Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Hi there!
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for a ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!