The client approves v07 on a Friday. On Monday their social media manager writes: “can you send me the final on WhatsApp?”
You do, because it’s quicker than explaining, and by lunchtime the video is on their LinkedIn page looking softer than anything you exported, with the gradient behind the logo broken into bands. WhatsApp shrinks videos sent that way to save mobile data.
Getting a large video to a client is two jobs that people tend to do with one link. While the client is reviewing, they need to watch it. At delivery, they need the exact file you exported, down to the last byte.
In short
- Review needs a link that plays in the browser, and delivery needs the exact file you exported.
- Email stops at 25 MB on personal Gmail and Outlook.com, so a final ends up as a link anyway.
- Open a shared drive link logged out before sending, and tell the client the preview isn’t the delivery quality.
- Free transfer links expire and WhatsApp compresses video sent as media: put the date in the message and reply with a link.
- Compare the size in bytes, name the file with its version and say how long the link lasts.
Reviewing and delivering need different links
For review, the client needs something that plays straight away in a browser, on a laptop or a phone, over whatever connection they have.
A streaming player sends a lighter copy that adapts to the connection, so a ten-minute cut starts in a couple of seconds and nobody downloads gigabytes to give three notes. Our post on sharing a video for client review covers what that link should do.
Delivery runs the other way. The client needs the master, the H.264 for the website and the vertical for Reels, and needs them untouched.
Those files are big. Apple’s ProRes white paper puts ProRes 422 HQ at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps at about 220 megabits per second, so a 1:45 master comes to roughly 2.9 GB.
What goes in the package and what to write in the email are in the post on the final delivery. This one is about how the files get there.
Email stops at 25 MB
An attachment only works for a short social cut. Google’s help says the limit for personal Gmail accounts is 25 MB, and when you go over it, Gmail swaps the attachment for a Google Drive link.
Microsoft says an Outlook.com email can be 25 MB in total, text included, and points to OneDrive links for anything bigger, up to 2 GB per file. Company accounts follow whatever their IT department set.
So the email ends up carrying a link either way, and most delivery problems start with that link.
Shared drives: access requests and previews
Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive are where most studios already keep their exports, so sharing from there is the obvious move. Two things catch people out.
The first is access. Files shared from a company account are often limited to the people you named, and a client who opens the link from a different address gets a page asking them to request access.
The request lands in your inbox at 9 pm, and the client wanted to post at 9 the next morning.
Before sending, set the link to anyone with the link, or add the exact address the client uses, then open it yourself in a private window while logged out. Some companies block consumer file-sharing sites on their network, so with a new client, ask which service gets through.
The second is the preview. When the client clicks the file, the drive plays it in the browser, and what plays there isn’t your file. Most browsers can’t play a ProRes file on their own, so the service shows a copy it made.
Google’s help page for Drive says playback tops out at 1920 x 1080, whatever resolution you uploaded. A client who judges your 4K master from that preview is looking at an HD copy.
Say in the message that the file has to be downloaded and that the preview isn’t the delivery quality.
Transfer links and messaging apps
Transfer services were made for this job. You upload once and send a link, and the other side downloads. The catch is the expiry.
WeTransfer’s own site says free transfers are available for up to 3 days from the moment they’re sent, so a client who opens the email after a long weekend finds nothing there.
Put the date in the message in plain words, keep your own copy, and if the client will need the files again (most do), send a link that lasts.
Messaging apps are the worst way to send a final, and the one clients ask for most. Videos sent as regular media on WhatsApp get compressed to travel over mobile data, and the client gets a smaller, softer file that still looks fine on a phone screen.
Sending it as a document keeps the file intact, but then a master of almost 3 GB sits on someone’s phone. When the request comes in on WhatsApp, reply with the link.
Check that the client got the file you exported
However the file travels, a few checks take a minute and settle arguments later.
Compare the size in bytes. “2.9 GB” in a browser is rounded, while the byte count in Finder’s Get Info or the Windows Properties window is exact. If the downloaded file shows the same number as your export, it’s almost certainly the same file.
For a master headed to broadcast or archive, run a checksum on both ends and compare the two strings (Windows prints it in capitals, which doesn’t matter):
# macOS (Terminal)
shasum -a 256 master.mov
# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-FileHash master.mov
Name the file so it says which version it is. A “final.mp4” in the client’s Downloads folder sits next to the three finals that came before it.
A code, a title and a version number, like ACM_014_launch_v07.mov, still means something after the file has been forwarded twice. Our file naming post has the whole pattern.
Say how long the link lasts and who can open it. “Available until November 20” beats “for a while”, and an unreleased campaign deserves a password or a link that only works for named people.
Ask the client to save the files somewhere of their own, too. Six months from now your transfer link will be long gone, and someone on their team will be looking for the vertical.
How this works in RecReview
In RecReview, watching and downloading are separate. The client reviews in the browser player, which picks the quality for their connection and can switch to the original file.
Once a version is approved, the client gets a Download button on the review page.
It opens a panel with Download final video, which hands back the exact file you uploaded, and, once the streaming copy is ready, Download in another resolution, a lighter MP4 for a presentation or a quick share.
The file comes out named with the task code and title instead of whatever your export was called.
The button shows for client contacts who can approve: by default any identified contact, and only the client’s managers if you turn on contact roles. Your team downloads any version from the task’s version list.
In the client portal, a video can be downloaded once its task is delivered. Before the client clicks, the download window shows a suggested file name they can edit, plus the size, length, resolution and frame rate.
The size is measured on the stored file, so it can be checked against your export.
If a client needs the file before approving, turn on Allow download before approval for that client. An early download is logged and your team gets a notification (why you might keep it off).
The review link can have a password and an expiry date. The expiry also ends the download, including the button in the email the client gets after approving, so the date in your message and the date on the link can be the same.
Each uploaded file can be up to 2 GB on Creator, 5 GB on Pro and 10 GB on Studio. A ProRes master over your plan’s limit can go by transfer service while the H.264 copy goes up for review and approval.
