DropYourFiles

Blog · October 28, 2026

How to send ProRes files to a client.

“It downloaded but it won’t open. Is it broken?” Your client is on a Windows laptop. The file is a ProRes .mov.

Send the ProRes master on a link, and give your client an MP4 of the same film beside it. ProRes is a format for editing: it’s large, and Windows doesn’t play it out of the box. Your client’s editor or agency needs the ProRes; the person who watches it needs something that plays.

By Vitaly Kibenko

Why ProRes trips clients up.

  • It’s big

    Apple puts ProRes 422 HQ at about 220 Mbps for HD at 29.97 frames a second. That’s about 1.6 GB a minute, before you go to 4K.

  • Windows doesn’t play it on its own

    Microsoft lists the video formats Windows plays without anything added: MPEG-4 (H.264), H.263, VC-1, WMV, DV, VP8 and Motion JPEG. ProRes isn’t on the list, and it isn’t among the extensions Microsoft offers in its Store either.

  • Editing apps are another matter

    Editors open ProRes every day. Apple even makes a ProRes RAW download for Windows, for Adobe’s apps. That helps the editor, not the client at a desk who wants to watch.

A man in a red flannel shirt at a laptop on a mountaintop above the clouds. The headline reads “One link from anywhere, to anyone.” and the line at the foot, “Sent from above the clouds.”
ProRes masters are large. Your client streams a preview and downloads the master itself.

Let your client watch before anything downloads.

Upload the ProRes to DropYourFiles as it is. Your client watches it in the browser on any phone or computer, Windows included, because what plays is a streaming copy made from your master. Notes land on the second, and nobody has to download gigabytes to say “trim the end.”

Then the downloads: ProRes and MP4.

  1. Original

    The ProRes exactly as you uploaded it, with its name, for the editor or the archive.

  2. 1080p or 720p

    An MP4 that plays on Windows, a Mac or a phone, for watching, posting and forwarding. Each size shows how big it is before your client picks.

  3. 4K

    When the master is 4K, a 4K MP4 too, encoded from the ProRes. HDR masters keep their HDR.

So you export one file. The downloads open when your client approves, unless you’ve switched on Download before approval.

Questions.

Can Windows play ProRes?

Not with the formats Windows includes. Microsoft’s list of built-in video formats doesn’t have ProRes, so most clients on Windows need an MP4 to watch it.

How do I convert ProRes to MP4 for a client?

Export an H.264 copy from your editor, or upload the ProRes to DropYourFiles and your client downloads a 1080p or 720p MP4 made from it.

Should I send ProRes or MP4 to a client?

Both, if the contract asks for a master. The MP4 is for watching and posting; the ProRes is for anyone who edits or archives it.

Does a ProRes master count toward storage?

Yes, at full size. Solo has 1 TB and 15 hours of video. The MP4 copies don’t count.

Keep reading.

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