DropYourFiles

Blog · October 28, 2026

How to deliver video files to clients.

“Do you have a version for Instagram? And the one without music?” Two weeks after you sent the final.

Deliver the master, a copy that plays on any phone, and whatever the contract says your client will post, all on one link they can come back to. Most delivery trouble isn’t the file. It’s a client who can’t play it, can’t find it a month later, or needs a version nobody wrote down.

By Vitaly Kibenko

What a final delivery holds.

  • The master

    In the format the contract names: ProRes, or a high-bitrate H.264 or HEVC. This is the file that gets archived and re-cut.

  • A copy that plays anywhere

    An H.264 MP4 at 1080p. It’s what your client watches, emails and posts.

  • The versions you agreed

    A short cut, a vertical one, one without music: the ones in the scope. Listing them in the contract heads off the second round of “can you also.”

  • Captions

    An .srt for any film that will play with the sound off.

  • Stills and the music license

    A frame or two for a thumbnail, and the license for the track if your client will run the film somewhere new.

The videography contract template has a clause for exactly this list, so it’s settled before the shoot rather than after.

A man coming home at night, greeted by his dog at the door, under the line “and go home.” A client’s message, “Can you send the link again?”, is struck through, and under it: “One link. It stays open.”
One link for the whole job: review, approval and the full size download.

Put all of it on one link.

On DropYourFiles the films, the stills and the PDFs sit on one page, the same one your client reviewed on. When they press Approve, the Review copy mark comes off and the downloads open there. You don’t send a second link for the finals.

Export the master once.

  1. Your client picks the size

    Original, 4K when the master is 4K, 1080p or 720p, with the file size beside each. DropYourFiles makes the MP4s from your upload.

  2. Captions on the film

    Attach an .srt or .vtt to the film, or make captions from its transcript, and the player gets a CC button. If your client needs the caption file itself, upload it to the project as a file too.

  3. A section, if that’s all they need

    Once the film is unlocked, your client can mark an in and an out point and download that part, at any of the four sizes.

Tell them how long it stays.

A delivered project stays on its link until you delete it, unless you set the link to expire. Say in writing how long that is, and that your client keeps a copy of their own. If your client approves and still hasn’t downloaded anything thirty days later, DropYourFiles emails them once to save their files. How long do photographers keep photos has the numbers worth deciding.

Questions.

What format should I deliver a video in?

The master in the format your contract names, plus a 1080p H.264 MP4, which opens on nearly every phone and laptop.

Do I have to give the client the raw footage?

Not unless the contract says so. The videography template here leaves raw footage and project files out unless both sides agree, and lets you offer them for a fee.

How should I name the delivery files?

The way your client will look for them: the project, the version and the length. Downloads keep the names you upload with, and a smaller copy adds its size, like “Launch 1080p.mp4”.

Keep reading.

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