Payment and handover
Watermark the client preview before payment.
Then swap in the clean master on the same link.
The watermark goes into the file, not onto the link. Export the approved cut with a visible mark burned into the picture, share that preview, and once the invoice is paid, replace it with the clean master behind the same link. The link, the embed, the view count and the client's timecoded notes and approvals all stay.
Video hosting for filmmakers · 5 GB free · Paid plans from USD 9/month
By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
Why the mark goes in the export
A share link has no watermark, and
what a browser receives can be saved.
Links here add nothing to the picture: no platform logo, no visible watermark, no invisible mark. That is the point of the product for delivery, and it means a watermark on a web preview has to be part of the file you upload.
There is a second reason to put it in the file. Switching a film’s download off removes the download button, but the viewer’s browser still receives the file it plays, and anyone can screen record a playing video. So the question before payment is not how to hide the file. It is what the file contains. If the only version the client can reach carries a mark across the frame, the preview is fine for reviewing and useless as a finished deliverable, whatever they do with it.
A visible watermark is a commercial tool, not a security one. It stops a client from quietly running an unpaid cut. It does not stop a determined leak. For a film that must not reach anyone’s browser at all, see the Vault note at the end of this page.
The workflow
Preview, notes, payment, master:
one link, two files.
Export the preview from the final timeline
Add the mark on a top layer over the whole timeline, or burn it in at export. Use the same in and out points you will use for the master, so the two files have the same duration. That is what keeps the client's notes and your captions lined up after the swap.
Upload it and share the link
Upload the preview as the film and send the link. Leave the download switch off. The client watches, leaves timecoded notes and approves the cut on the watermarked file.
Replace the file when you are paid
In the film's Video panel, use Upload a new version and select the clean master. This replaces the main file of the same film; it is not the same as adding another version in the review room. Wait for the save to finish.
Turn the download on, if you deliver the file
If the deal includes the file, switch the download on for that film. Nothing unlocks it automatically when an invoice is paid; you flip it by hand, and the button appears on the link the client already has.
Check these after the swap
What the replacement keeps
The film stays the same film,
and only the file changes.
Replacing a file changes the stored file and its technical details (size, duration, width, height, frame rate). Everything attached to the film stays.
The replacement must fit your plan's available storage. The size of the file being replaced is counted as freed.
Making the mark
Big enough to matter,
and hard to crop out.
Put it across the middle
A small logo in a corner can be cropped or covered. A line of text across the centre of the frame, semi-transparent, cannot be removed without ruining the picture, and the client can still judge the grade and the edit through it.
Say what it is
Text such as PREVIEW ONLY, or the client's name and the date, reads as a status rather than a threat. Naming the client on their own preview also makes a forwarded copy easy to recognise.
Keep it as a separate export
Never overwrite the master. The preview is a second render of the same timeline. Burning text into the picture means that render is re-encoded, which is fine for a preview; the master you deliver later is untouched.
In any editor, the simplest method is a text or image layer on the top track, spanning the whole timeline, disabled for the master export and enabled for the preview. If you would rather not touch the project, the free command-line tool FFmpeg can burn text into an existing export with its drawtext filter, which its documentation describes as drawing a text string on the input video:
ffmpeg -i master.mov \
-vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='PREVIEW ONLY':fontsize=96:fontcolor=white:alpha=0.35:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2" \
preview.mp4Here alpha sets the opacity of the text (1 is fully opaque), and the x and y expressions use the frame width and height (w, h) and the text’s own size (text_w, text_h) to centre it. Point fontfile at a font on your machine, and add the encoder settings you normally use for review exports. For a logo instead of text, FFmpeg’s overlay filter places one image or video on top of another.
The honest limits
A watermark deters a client, not
a determined viewer.
A visible mark on a browser preview reduces the value of an unpaid copy. It does not prevent a screen recording, and a recording of a watermarked preview is still a watermarked preview. If you need more than that, for a feature, an unreleased campaign or a screener with real leak risk, a browser link is the wrong tool. 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. A vaulted film does not play on the web at all, so it cannot be shared as a link or an embed. See Vault.
If your preview is short and your client only needs to see it once, a watermarked file sent any way you like does the same job, and you do not need a host for it. The workflow on this page pays off when the client leaves notes and approves on the link, and you want that link, its embeds and its history to become the delivery once the invoice is paid. For the full handover, see how to deliver final video files to clients, and for what a replacement does in detail, replace a video without changing its link.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does uncompressed.io add a watermark to my share link automatically?
No. Browser links, embeds and password or email gated pages show the file exactly as you uploaded it, with nothing added. If you want a watermark on a web preview, burn it into the export before you upload.
If I replace the preview with the master, does the client lose their notes?
No. Replacing the file keeps the film's timecoded notes, approvals, captions, views, slug and embeds. They stay where they were in time, so they still line up when the master has the same edit and duration as the preview. If you recut between the two, check that notes and captions still fall on the right moments, and regenerate captions if the timing changed.
Can I go back to the watermarked preview after replacing it?
Not from the platform. The outgoing file is deleted once the replacement is saved, so keep your own copy of the preview export if you might need it again.
Is a visible watermark enough to stop a client using the preview?
It makes the preview unusable as a finished deliverable, which is usually the point. It does not stop someone screen recording or cropping around a small corner mark, so place it across the middle of the frame. For films that must not leave your control, use Vault in the macOS app instead of a browser link.
One link from preview to paid master
Share the watermarked preview, collect notes on it, and replace the file when you are paid. Every feature is on every plan, including the free plan with 5 GB and one film at a time.
Sources
- 1.FFmpeg Filters Documentation: drawtext ("Draw text string or text from specified file on input video"), options text, fontfile, fontsize, fontcolor, alpha, x, y and variables w, h, text_w, text_h (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 2.FFmpeg Filters Documentation: overlay ("Overlay one video on top of another") (fetched 18 September 2026)