How filmmakers deliver video files to clients in 2026
Filmmakers still smash a 40 GB export, then chase a PO. Video delivery in 2026 is one URL: a short clip they can judge, a price if they owe you, and the master a festival can open in January.
How filmmakers deliver video files to clients is still, in too many crews, a smash plus an invoice plus a hope that hotel wifi holds. Each hop is a place a producer stalls. Filmmaker client delivery should be one door they already have open.
This is the year of jobs: dailies, a review cut, the locked export, a LUT pack you sell twice. Filmmakers already work this way when the folder is the shelf. Keep Frame.io for notes. Change the hand-off.
Why video delivery still splits
- A smash expires before finance opens email.
- A Drive of the ProRes is already the delivery.
- A review suite is extra furniture when the cut is locked.
- A new colourist asks in March. The pipe is gone.
How this looks on a year of jobs
Dailies
Password the door. A clip is enough to know the card landed. The dump stays in the folder. You do not add the whole production to a drive.
Review cut
If they still owe notes, keep Frame.io or Replay. If they only need to confirm picture and sound, a short clip on a Spike page is enough. Do not send the mezzanine as the first look.
Locked export
Upload the master. Clip on the unpaid view. Price the folder if the PO is still open. Get paid before sending files. The festival link in January is the same URL.
LUT and stock
A pack you sell many times wants a before-and-after, not a password. Keep it off the client tree. Sell Lightroom presets and LUTs is that product.
Spike takes 5% on Free, 1% on Pro, 0% on Business, from the payout, when you price the folder. Sharing can stay free. Free shares last three days; Pro and Business until you turn them off. Free-plan files follow 30-day retention.
Put this export in one folder
Picture, sound, a notes PDF. Subfolders survive, so dailies and finals can stay sorted.
Decide the unpaid view
A short clip. Not the mezzanine. Password it if the cut should not travel.
Price it if they still owe you
The filmmaker payment link is the folder. When checkout completes, the same URL is the master.
Hotel wifi fails the first pull. A new colourist starts in March. Leave the link up. Replace a wrong reel in place. You do not rebuild a 40 GB smash at midnight. How to send large video files is the send itself.
If they can see the cut, they should be able to take the master without joining a review workspace.
Questions
Good to know
Upload the export. Let them watch a short clip. If money is still due, take payment on that page. The download is the file you stored, including 4K and ProRes.
Keep reading
Related articles
Try the workflow in the article.
Upload a folder, protect the preview, share or sell from one link.