DropYourFiles

Blog · October 26, 2026

How to watermark a video for client review.

“Can you send me the file? I want to show my boss.” The boss works at another company, and the invoice is still open.

A review copy is for notes. Without a mark on it, it turns up in a pitch deck or on someone’s feed, or gets used as the final before the last round is done.

By Vitaly Kibenko

The usual way, in your editor.

Lay a title or a transparent PNG over the whole timeline, export, send. That works, but you’re exporting twice every round, you end up with two files with nearly the same name, and you have to remember to export the clean one at the end. Miss that last step and your client gets the final with “DRAFT” across it.

A couple dancing in a warm kitchen at night, under the line “and dance in the kitchen.” A client’s message, “Wait, which version did we approve?”, is struck through, and under it: “Approved. Watermarks off.”
Your client reviews with your watermark on. When they approve, it comes off on the same link.

Or let the link add the mark.

On DropYourFiles you upload the clean master once and the link adds the mark.

  1. Upload the master as it is

    No title layer, no second export. The file you upload is the file your client downloads at the end.

  2. Your client watches a marked copy

    Films play as a 720p copy with “Review copy” burned into the middle of the picture. Photos are shown as marked previews. The clean files aren’t handed out while the project is in review.

  3. Your client’s name sits under it

    Once your client has typed a name on a note, it shows on screen under the mark, so if someone screen-records it, your client’s name is in the recording.

  4. Approve takes it off

    When your client presses Approve, the mark is gone and the original files open for download on the same link.

The studio’s Account page, Project defaults: switches for Notes on, Approval on, Downloads before approval (off) and Watermark review copies (on), with a link expiry field below.
Account, Project defaults. Watermark review copies is on for every new project, beside the switch that keeps downloads closed until approval.

Films, photos and pages.

  • Films

    Burned into the copy your client plays.

  • Photos

    Burned into the previews your client sees, at both the grid size and the large view.

  • PDFs and documents

    Drawn across each page on screen. The file itself isn’t changed.

  • Not the cover

    The project cover, a film’s poster frame and the scrub strip stay clean, so the page still looks like your work.

A PDF print proof open on a client’s page, with the words Review copy across the photograph and a note pinned to the title, beside a column of notes.
A print proof in review, with Review copy across the page and a note pinned to the title. A sample project with invented names.

Turning it off.

It’s one switch for the whole studio: Account, then Project defaults, then Watermark review copies. It’s on unless you turn it off. The words, size and position of the mark are fixed for now; you can’t swap in your logo.

If you reopen a project for another round after your client approved it, the mark comes back until the next approval.

Questions.

Does the watermark come off when my client approves?

Yes, as soon as your client approves. If the photos and the film are approved separately, each one loses its mark with its own approval.

Can I change what the watermark says?

Not yet. It reads Review copy, in the middle of the picture, and your client’s name shows on screen under it once they’ve left a note.

Can my client download the clean file before approving?

No, unless you turn on Downloads before approval for that project. Until then your client watches and leaves notes, and nothing downloads.

Do the watermarked copies count against my storage?

No. The marked copies are made for review and don’t count toward your storage.

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