Dailies, remotely
How to share dailies with a director
Export at wrap, gate the link, collect notes by timecode.
Export the day's selected takes as a graded or LUT-applied H.264 or HEVC file, upload it as that day's film, put a password or the director's email address on it, and send the link. The director watches in a browser and leaves notes pinned to a time in the film. If the export was wrong, replace the file and the link stays the same.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
What you actually send
The director watches an export,
not the camera card.
Dailies exist so the director can judge performance, coverage and focus the same night. None of that needs the negative, and a browser could not play it anyway: camera RAW and ProRes are not among the codecs MDN lists as commonly used on the web. H.264, HEVC and AV1 are.
79 GB
One hour of ProRes 422 HQ
1920 x 1080 at 24p, Apple's target rate
16 GB
One hour of ProRes 422 Proxy
Same frame size and rate
9 GB
One hour at 20 Mbps
Arithmetic example for an H.264 or HEVC export, not a recommendation
The ProRes figures come from Apple’s white paper; the last one is plain arithmetic (20 megabits a second for 3,600 seconds). Pick the bitrate from what the director’s connection and screen can carry, not from this example. Whatever you pick is what they get: Browser playback uses your uploaded export without another platform re-encode. Codec, device and connection requirements still apply.
Apply the look before export. A show LUT or a quick grade is what makes a dailies file useful; a flat log image invites notes about colour that nobody meant to give. The BRAW and RED guide covers the route from camera RAW to a viewable file, and the export settings guide covers codec, chroma and bitrate choices.
The nightly routine
Wrap to notes,
in four steps.
Export the day
Selected takes, look applied, burned-in timecode and clip names if the director will quote them back. H.264 or HEVC in MP4 or MOV. One file per shoot day keeps the notes for that day in one place.
Upload it as that day's film
Direct uploads accept up to 5 TB per file, within available account storage. Starter includes 5 GB and one film at a time. Archive transfers have separate limits. Name the film after the day and the scenes so the link reads clearly in a message.
Gate it
Set the film to Password and send the code separately from the link, or type the director's email address as the access code so the gate asks for that address instead. Leave the original-file download switched off; it is off unless you turn it on.
Collect notes by timecode
The director pauses and writes. Each note is pinned to a time in the film, can carry a drawing on the frame, and takes replies. You mark each one open, in progress or done as you act on it.
Notes are placed by time in seconds and shown to a tenth of a second, so they are not frame-accurate. For a dailies pass that is usually enough, and burned-in timecode on the export lets the director quote an exact frame in the text when it matters. How those notes are stored, and how they reach Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve as markers, is covered in timecoded video comments.
Who gets in
Four ways to set a film,
and what each one does not do.
Access is set per film, on every plan including the free one. For dailies, the first two rows are the ones that matter.
Wrong codes are rate limited to 20 attempts an hour per film per network address. A password-protected film does not play in an embed, so dailies stay on the watch page. Changing the film's link name does not revoke access: the film's ID-based address keeps working.
When the export was wrong
Swap the file,
the link stays put.
The wrong LUT, a missing take, a sync slip. You have already sent the link, and the director may already have it open on a phone.
Replace the file
In your dashboard, upload the corrected export as a new cut of the same film. The link, views, settings and placement stay as they are; only the file changes. The poster is not swapped automatically, and the earlier file does not become a version you can return to, so keep your own copy. Use it for a corrected export of the same day.
Upload a new day as a new film
Tomorrow's dailies are different footage, not a correction. Give them their own film and their own link, so each day's notes stay with the pictures they were written about.
Before you replace a file the director has already reviewed
Dailies that must not reach a browser
The vault,
and the honest limit of a web link.
A web link plays the file in the viewer’s browser. Turning off the download switch removes the download button, not the ability to save or screen record what a browser plays. For material that must not leave, that matters.
Every film has a vault switch, on every plan. A vaulted film goes dark on the web: no watch-page player, no embed, no download, and it is left out of the review room. It is watched in the compatible macOS app instead. Vault includes encrypted local playback, supported capture restrictions, visible session identification and invisible per-person forensic marks in the macOS app. These are distinct controls; forensic detection depends on the recovered copy. These controls reduce risk; they cannot guarantee that footage never leaks or that every leak can be traced.
The trade is plain. A vaulted day cannot collect browser notes, and the director needs a compatible Mac. For most shoots the password link is the right tool, and the vault is for the days a leak would cost more than the convenience.
When this is the wrong tool
What it costs,
and when it is not.
Unlimited video streaming is included, with no per-view or bandwidth overage charges. Storage and team-seat charges are separate. Starter is free with 5 GB and one film at a time, which is enough to test one day end to end but not to run a shoot. On paid plans, hot storage is 100 GB on Lite ($9 a month), 500 GB on Pro ($39) and 1 TB on Max ($99). At the 9 GB-an-hour example above, twenty hours of selected takes is about 180 GB. The rate cards are on the pricing page.
Look elsewhere if the production needs a visible watermark generated per viewer on browser links, links that expire on a date, one link that admits a list of named email addresses, or a colourist judging the negative. None of those exist on web links here. If the director needs the camera originals, that is a drive or a transfer, not a dailies link.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can the director watch the camera originals in a browser?
No. Camera RAW and ProRes are not among the codecs MDN lists as commonly used on the web; AV1, H.264 (AVC) and HEVC are. That is why the dailies file is an export made from the originals, with the look already applied, and the originals stay with the DIT or on your storage.
Does the director need an account?
No. The director opens the link and, if you set one, types the password or their email address. Reviewers and viewers never take a seat on your plan.
Can I give one link to the director, the producer and the DP?
Use a password for a group. The email gate holds one address per film, not a list, so it suits a single reviewer. Anyone you give a password to can pass it on, and the email gate sends no confirmation email: whoever types the address gets in. What the email gate does give you is attribution, because notes left after passing it are recorded under that address.
How do I cut someone off after the shoot?
Change the film's password, which ends every earlier unlock, or switch the film to Private, which makes the watch page return not-found for everyone but you. Links do not expire on their own. A playback link already open in someone's browser keeps working until it lapses, up to 2 hours on the watch page, and a copy someone already saved cannot be recalled.
Is there a watermark on the web link?
No. The web player shows your logo, the title and captions, and adds no watermark of any kind. If a production needs a visible burn-in on browser dailies, burn it into the export before upload. The per-person marks described further down exist only for vaulted films in the macOS app.
Can I run dailies on the free plan?
To test the chain, yes: Starter is 5 GB, one film at a time, with no card. A shoot produces a film a day, so a real run of dailies needs a paid plan. Pro includes 500 GB of hot storage at $39 a month.
Send tonight's dailies on one link
Browser playback uses your uploaded export without another platform re-encode. Codec, device and connection requirements still apply. Plans include storage, team seats and caption allowances. Extra team seats are billed separately; external reviewers do not need a paid seat. Video streaming has no per-view or bandwidth-overage charge.
Sources
- 1.MDN Web Docs: web video codec guide, codecs commonly used on the web (table lists AV1, AVC (H.264), H.263, HEVC (H.265), MP4V-ES, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Theora, VP8 and VP9; fetched 17 September 2026)
- 2.Apple Support: about Apple ProRes, target data rates (ProRes 422 HQ about 220 Mbps and ProRes 422 Proxy about 45 Mbps at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps; fetched 17 September 2026)
- 3.Apple ProRes White Paper (April 2022), appendix: Target Data Rates (1920 x 1080 at 24p: ProRes 422 HQ 176 Mb/s and 79 GB/hr, ProRes 422 Proxy 36 Mb/s and 16 GB/hr; fetched 17 September 2026)