Blog · October 28, 2026
How long do photographers keep photos?
“Do you still have the photos from our wedding? The link doesn’t work anymore.” It was 2021.
As long as the contract says, and many contracts don’t say. There’s no standard length, for photos or for video, so the answer your client gets is whatever you wrote down. Write three numbers: how long the link stays open, how long you keep the finished files, and how long you keep the raws.
By Vitaly Kibenko
The three numbers.
How long the link stays open
The page your client downloads from. Months, a year, or for as long as you keep the project. Put the number in, and say your client is responsible for a copy of their own.
How long you keep the finished files
The edited photos or the final film, after the link has closed. This is what answers the email three years later.
How long you keep the raws
Unused frames and raw footage are the biggest files you own and the ones least often asked for, so it’s fair to promise them for less time than the finals.
The photography contract template has a line for the link, and the videography contract template one for raw footage. Fill in the numbers that fit what you can afford to store.
What keeping them costs.
Storage is the whole question. Raw files and 4K footage take far more room than the edit you delivered, and drives fail. Whatever you promise, keep two copies, one of them somewhere other than your desk.
On DropYourFiles, delivered work stays put.
A delivered project stays Delivered for as long as you keep it: the link open, the full-size files ready to download. Nothing is archived or deleted on a timer. After ninety days it folds under Older on your own home screen to keep the list short, and your client doesn’t see that.
If you’d rather the link closed, set Link expires to 7, 14, 30 or 90 days. The project stays in your studio, and you can send a new link when the email comes in three years later.
When you do delete.
Delete project, in the project’s Settings, takes its files, notes and link away for good, and asks you to type the project’s name first. A record of what was deleted stays behind under Deleted in your account (the client, how many files, how much space it freed), so you can confirm a deletion to a client who asked for one.
Questions.
How long do photographers keep raw photos?
Each contract sets its own number, and it’s fair to keep raws for less time than the edited photos, because they take far more room.
How long do wedding videographers keep footage?
As long as their contract promises. If yours doesn’t say, add a number for the finished film and another for the raw footage.
What if a client asks for photos years later?
If you still have them, send a new link. On DropYourFiles a delivered project stays until you delete it, so a fresh link from the same project is a click away.
Can I make a client link expire?
Yes. Choose 7, 14, 30 or 90 days, or never. The project stays when the link closes.
Keep reading.
- /templates/photography-contract-template
- How to deliver video files to clients
- How to share a password protected video with a client
- When your client keeps asking for revisions
- Should photographers give clients raw files?
- How to send ProRes files to a client
New here? See what DropYourFiles does, or compare the plans.
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