Leaving Vimeo

Vimeo storage limit reached?
Vimeo's three fixes, and a fourth for a finished library.

When a Vimeo account hits its storage total, uploads stop. Vimeo's help center offers three ways out: compress, delete or upgrade. Each is a fair answer for someone. If the space is full of films you have already delivered, there is a fourth: keep them in an archive priced per terabyte and keep your hot space for the films people still watch.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026

Vimeo’s own answer

Three fixes,
in the order Vimeo lists them.

Vimeo’s help center is direct about it: once the account reaches its total storage limit, you cannot upload more videos. It then lists three options. Each one works; each one costs something different.

What it does

What it costs you

Right for you if

1. Compressthe source file

Smaller uploads count for less,because Vimeo measures the sourcefile's size at upload

The copy Vimeo keeps islower quality than your master;files already uploaded still countat their original size

Your masters live safely elsewhereand Vimeo only needs a viewing copy

2. Deletevideos you nolonger need

Frees space immediately

Links and embeds of thosevideos need replacing; bulkdownload is not supported,so backups go one by one

The videos are truly finishedand you have your own copy

3. Upgradefor more storage

More room on the same account;nothing moves

A higher plan, and a check ofwhich storage figure appliesto your videos

Your library keeps growing andthe whole of it is still in use

4. Archivefinished filmselsewhere

Delivered films sit in coldstorage priced per terabyte

An archived film must berestored before it plays

Most of the space is filmsyou have already delivered

Options 1 to 3 are Vimeo's, from its help center, fetched 16 September 2026. Option 4 is ours.

Before you upgrade, check which storage is full. Vimeo’s newer individual plans separate two figures. The Creator plan lists 7 TB of total storage, which Vimeo describes as virtually unlimited for public videos, and 50 GB of managed storage, which covers embeddable and non-public videos. Core lists 300 GB of managed storage. Vimeo says both plans are rolling out gradually and may not be on your account yet. If your videos are public and the 7 TB total fits, upgrading on Vimeo may be all you need, and you should stay.

Before you delete, check what Vimeo still holds. Vimeo keeps source files only on a paid plan with the “Keep source video files” setting on; on Free and Basic accounts the source is deleted by default. If that happened, the copy on Vimeo is not your master. Find the master on your own drives first. The Vimeo backup guide covers the one-by-one download.

On the Free plan, Vimeo lists up to 1 GB of content for the account’s lifetime unless you upgrade (older accounts may differ). There, deleting and upgrading are the only real levers.

The fourth option

Every film needs a home,
but not every film needs to play today.

A full library is usually a history of delivered work. Those films rarely get played, yet they sit in the same storage as the one a client opens this afternoon. Here the two are separate: hot storage for films that stream, embed and go to review, and an archive priced per terabyte for the rest.

Lite

Pro

Max

Studio

Monthly

$9 a month

$39 a month

$99 a month

$199 a month

Yearly

$90 a year

$390 a year

$990 a year

$1,990 a year

Hot storage(streams)

100 GB

500 GB

1 TB

Archive(cold)

100 GB

500 GB

2 TB

7 TB

Extraarchive

$20 per TBa month

Prices in US dollars. Archive extras cost $20 per TB per month on any paid plan, including Lite and Pro. Storage extras stay monthly even with an annual base plan. Unlimited video streaming is included, with no per-view or bandwidth overage charges. Storage and team-seat charges are separate.

What the archive does not do. Hot capacity is released after the archive copy is verified and the library change is saved. Archived films must be restored before streaming, embedding or review. So archive the films that are finished, not the ones still embedded on a live page. Restoring requires available hot capacity and uses a monthly allowance of twice your archive capacity. Transfer time depends on file size and the transfer path; no fixed completion time is guaranteed.

Where it stops being the right answer. If most of your Vimeo library is public and still watched, archiving saves little; the films need to play, and the question is only how much hot space costs. The unlimited uploads comparison reads that meter. For an archive nobody will open for years, the hot vs cold guide shows where tape or a big-cloud deep tier costs less.

The move, in four steps

Archive first,
then free the space on Vimeo.

Sort the library

List the films that are delivered and no longer embedded or shared. Those are the archive candidates. Anything still live stays hot.

Bring the files over

Upload the master from your own drive, or use the Vimeo import, which copies the source file when Vimeo still has it and labels any file it cannot confirm as the source. The import reads your Vimeo account and never edits or deletes anything there. Imported films land in hot storage first, so move a large library in batches that fit your hot space.

Archive the finished films

Move each delivered film to the archive once it is in. Hot capacity is released after the archive copy is verified and the library change is saved. Archive transfers have their own per-file limits, separate from the upload limit, so check before moving a very large master.

Then delete on Vimeo

Once the archive copy is confirmed and you hold your own copy too, delete those videos on Vimeo to get under its limit. Replace any Vimeo embeds of them on your site first.

Masters still on your drives

A finished edit can be archived straight from DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro as one pack per timeline (the clips the timeline uses, whole, the project file and the master) into the cold archive of any paid plan, and every file in the pack is restorable on its own. That skips the hot step entirely for work that never needed to stream. The archive pass guide covers what to keep from a finished job.

Questions

Frequently asked

What stops when my Vimeo storage is full?

Vimeo's help center says you cannot upload more videos once the account reaches its total storage limit. Its three suggested fixes are to compress your source files, delete videos you no longer need to store, or upgrade for more storage.

Does Vimeo count the original file or the streaming versions?

Vimeo says storage is determined by the size of the original source file at the time of upload. That is why compressing only helps for what you upload next, or for a smaller file you upload instead of a large one.

Does an archived film still play on uncompressed.io?

No. Hot capacity is released after the archive copy is verified and the library change is saved. Archived films must be restored before streaming, embedding or review. Keep the films that clients and embeds still use in hot storage, and archive the ones that are finished.

How much archive space does each plan include?

Lite includes 100 GB, Pro 500 GB, Max 2 TB and Studio 7 TB. Archive extras cost $20 per TB per month on any paid plan, including Lite and Pro. Storage extras stay monthly even with an annual base plan. The free plan (5 GB) has no archive capacity.

How do I get an archived film back?

Restoring requires available hot capacity and uses a monthly allowance of twice your archive capacity. Transfer time depends on file size and the transfer path; no fixed completion time is guaranteed.

Is this cheaper than upgrading Vimeo?

Compare the upgrade quote shown in your own Vimeo account with the plan table on this page. We do not quote Vimeo's prices here because its pricing page did not display them when we checked on 16 September 2026.

Put the finished films in the archive

Max includes 1 TB hot and 2 TB archive; Studio includes 1 TB hot and 7 TB archive. Lite includes 100 GB of archive and Pro 500 GB. Archive extras cost $20 per TB per month on any paid plan, including Lite and Pro. Storage extras stay monthly even with an annual base plan.