Payment and handover
How to stop a client downloading your video before they pay.
Hide the button, and send a preview worth less than the master.
Switching downloads off removes the download button. It does not stop the browser receiving the file the player streams, so a determined client can still save or screen record it. The dependable workflow is to put a preview on the link, one with a mark burned in or at a lower resolution, and swap the clean master in behind the same link once the invoice is paid.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
The short answer
If the client can play it,
the browser already has the file.
You can stop a client finding a download button. You cannot stop a browser from receiving the video it plays, on this platform or any other. So the thing to control is not the button but which file sits on the link before payment.
Here is what happens on uncompressed.io. Each film has a switch in its Video panel called Allow original-file download. When it is on, the watch page shows a Download original button. When it is off, the button is gone. In both cases the player streams the same file you uploaded, through a plain video element.
That leaves two routes the switch does not close. MDN documents that a video element exposes the absolute URL of the media it is playing, which anyone can read with the tools built into a browser. MDN also documents a standard browser method that asks the user to pick a screen, or part of one, to capture as a stream. Add a phone pointed at the monitor and the conclusion is simple: whatever the client can watch in full quality, they can keep in something close to full quality.
Every setting in this table is per film and on every plan, the free Starter plan included.
The workflow that holds up
Send a preview you can afford to lose,
then swap in the master.
Since you cannot keep the preview file out of the client’s hands, make the preview a file that is not worth taking. Then the link itself becomes the delivery once they pay.
Export a preview
From the same timeline, export a version with your mark burned into the picture (a studio name or "PREVIEW, NOT FOR BROADCAST" on a top layer), or at a lower resolution than the master, or both. Keep it good enough to approve the edit.
Upload it and lock it down
Upload the preview as the film. In the Video panel, check that Allow original-file download is off. Under Privacy, choose Password if you want the link to stay between you and the client.
Collect notes and approval
Send the link. The client watches and comments on the preview. Nothing on the web player adds a watermark of its own, so the only mark is the one you exported.
After payment, replace and unlock
Choose Upload a new version and select the clean master. When it has saved, reload the link signed out to check it, then turn on Allow original-file download. Same link, now the deliverable.
What survives the replacement
One order of operations matters. The download setting carries over through a replacement. If you switch it on before the master has finished saving, the client could download the preview file instead. Replace first, check, then switch it on.
If the invoice stays open
You can close the link,
copies already saved stay saved.
Change the password
Everyone who entered the old code is locked out on their next visit. Send the new code only once the account is settled.
Switch to Private
The watch page stops playing for everyone but you. Switch back to Password or Unlisted when you are ready to deliver.
Put it in the contract
The platform cannot enforce payment. A deposit before the edit and a clause that the master and its licence pass on final payment do more than any setting.
What no setting does
Recall a file already saved, or a screen recording already made. That is why only the preview should ever sit on an unpaid link.
When even the preview must not leak
For work that cannot be exposed at all,
keep it out of the browser.
Most client work does not need this. A campaign under embargo or a film with a release date might.
The vault is a per-film switch on every plan, Starter included. A vaulted film has no web playback for anyone, you included, no embed and no download; the download switch is forced off. The client watches in the compatible macOS app instead of a browser. 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 real: your client needs a Mac and the app, and a phone pointed at a screen is still a phone pointed at a screen. For an ordinary unpaid invoice, a marked or lower-resolution preview on a password link is simpler and usually enough.
When to use something else
If you need payment to unlock delivery automatically,
we do not do that.
There is no invoicing or payment connection here. If your business depends on a download that opens the moment a card is charged, use a tool built around that, such as a storefront or gallery service that ties delivery to checkout, and check its own documentation for how it protects the file before payment. The same browser limits apply there: a preview that plays in full quality can be kept.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does turning off downloads stop my client saving the video?
No. With Allow original-file download off, the watch page shows no Download original button. The player still streams the file you uploaded to the client's browser, and a client who knows how can save that file or record the screen. Treat the switch as removing the easy route, not as protection.
Can the download unlock automatically when the invoice is paid?
No. There is no payment or invoicing connection and no scheduled unlock. You turn the switch on yourself in the film's Video panel once payment has arrived.
If I replace the preview with the master, does the client need a new link?
No. Upload a new version keeps the film's link, views, privacy, password, download setting and embed settings. Timecoded notes and approvals left on the film stay with it, but they point at timings in the preview, so check them if the master differs in timing. The preview file is deleted once the replacement is saved, so keep your own copy.
What if the client never pays?
Change the film's password or switch it to Private. Changing the password locks out everyone who entered the old one, on their next visit. Nothing can pull back a copy already saved, which is why the preview on the link should be one you can afford to lose.
Preview first, master after payment, one link throughout
The download switch, passwords, file replacement and the vault are on every plan, the free Starter plan included (5 GB, one film at a time). Plans differ by storage, seats and caption minutes.
Sources
- 1.MDN Web Docs, HTMLMediaElement.currentSrc: the absolute URL of the chosen media resource (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 2.MDN Web Docs, Screen Capture API: getDisplayMedia() asks the user to select a screen or portion of a screen to capture (fetched 18 September 2026)