How to deliver a video to a client in full quality

Where quality gets lost

A video file only loses quality when something re-encodes it. That happens more often than most clients realise:

• Messaging apps usually compress videos so they send quickly, and many also limit file size or length.
• Email can't carry a finished film at all: attachment limits sit far below the size of a real edit.
• Video platforms and social networks re-encode what they stream, and a copy downloaded from them is not necessarily your original file.
• Screen recordings and forwarded copies lose a little more each time they are passed on.

The rule follows from this: send the file itself, by a route that does not touch it, and give the client a separate, easy way to watch it.

Step 1: export a delivery file, not just a master

Your master, often in a high-bitrate intermediate codec, is right for archiving and for editors, but it is large and many phones won't play it. For most clients, export a delivery version as well:

• Format: an MP4 in H.264 plays almost everywhere. H.265 (HEVC) gives smaller files at similar quality, but some older devices and browsers struggle with it.
• Resolution and frame rate: the same as your timeline. Don't upscale, and don't change the frame rate at export.
• Bitrate: high enough that dark scenes and fast movement stay clean. Watch the export on a large screen before deciding it is good enough.
• Audio: stereo AAC at a high bitrate, unless the client needs separate tracks.

If the client is a broadcaster, an agency or an editor, ask for their delivery specification before you export. They usually have one, and it overrides everything above.

Step 2: name and check the files

Use a name that tells the client what they have: the project, the version and the format, for example ClientName_Film_v3_4K.mp4. Then play the exported file from start to finish, or at least scrub through it, before it leaves your machine. Check the first and last seconds, the sound sync and any text on screen. For long-form or commercial work, record a checksum, so both sides can confirm the file arrived intact.

Step 3: send it so it arrives untouched

Choose a route that moves the file byte for byte and lets the client watch before downloading. In your message, say which file is which: the delivery MP4 for watching and sharing, the master for the archive. Ask the client to download both and keep their own copy, because no link should be their only backup.

Doing it without a special tool

• A shared cloud folder such as Google Drive keeps the original file intact for download. Its in-browser preview may not show the film at full quality, so ask the client to judge the downloaded file, not the preview.
• WeTransfer moves the file without changing it, which suits a one-off handover. On the free plan the link expires after a few days, so ask the client to download promptly.
• A physical drive is still the safest way to hand over very large masters, and a nice touch for a wedding film. Format it as exFAT so it works on both Mac and Windows.

Whatever you use, test the link yourself on a phone, on mobile data, before you send it. It shows you exactly what your client will experience.

How Aurant does it

In Aurant, a film is delivered the way a photo is:

1. Upload the file you exported. Aurant keeps it as it is and never recompresses it. The file keeps its name.
2. Share it by link, or in a gallery next to the photos. The client opens one link in any browser, on a phone or a computer, with no account and no app.
3. Let them watch first. Films play straight from the link, in HD on any connection, so nobody has to download a large file just to see it.
4. Let them download the original. When you allow it, the client downloads the file exactly as you uploaded it, and you see who downloaded what.

As with any online player, playback in the gallery is an HD preview made for smooth viewing. The full-quality copy is the download, so that is the file to keep and to judge the grade on.

How much video a gallery can hold depends on your plan, so check the video minutes per gallery on the pricing page before you upload a long edit.

For more on setting up the gallery around a film, read the guide to sending a client gallery.

A quick checklist

1. Export a delivery MP4 and, if the job calls for it, a master.
2. Play both before sending.
3. Name them so the client knows which is which.
4. Send them by a route that does not recompress.
5. Test the link on a phone, on mobile data.
6. Ask the client to download and keep their own copy.