Getting your files out
How to download original files from Vimeo.
Three routes, and a check that tells you which version you got.
Vimeo hands back a source file, a re-encode or nothing, depending on the plan, one checkbox and whether the subscription ever lapsed. Three ways out, what each needs, and a two-minute check of which version you are holding.
No credit card required. Cancel any time.
Updated September 2026
Before you start
Vimeo may not have your original.
Here is why.
The download list shows a 1080p file where a 4K master went in. That is not a bug. Vimeo keeps the file you uploaded only when a paid plan asked it to, and only while that plan is paid.
The setting is Keep source video files: paid plans only, unchecked until you check it, and checking it does not restore a file already removed. It holds only while you pay: if the subscription ends or the setting is turned off, the source files “may be deleted and may not be recoverable.” On Free and Basic the source file is permanently deleted by default, and API uploads from before September 2016 have no downloadable source at all.
One legacy number remains: a paid membership that lapses to Basic loses its source files after 60 days, unrecoverably. Basic is no longer sold and Vimeo publishes no window for Free, so treat the lapse itself as the deadline, and read how to cancel Vimeo without losing videos before touching the subscription.
If the plan has already ended, the library is restricted, not deleted: everything above the 1 GB Free cap, most recent uploads first, cannot be played, edited or downloaded. A deleted video can be recovered for 30 days; deleting a restricted video is permanent.
Route 1
From the video page,
one film at a time.
No code, no third party. It works on any paid plan, one video at a time, and Vimeo has no bulk download from the library.
Sign in as the owner
Vimeo requires a log-in to download a source file, even from a Public video, so a colleague with the link cannot pull it for you.
Share, then Download
On the video page, open Share, then Download. Vimeo lists the versions it holds; what is not listed no longer exists on Vimeo.
Choose the version
Take the source file when it is offered. Otherwise the largest version is the best copy left, and it is a re-encode: run the size check below.
Repeat per video
There is no bulk download, on any plan. A hundred films is a hundred visits, so work from a list, newest first.
Downloading is a paid-plan feature, so on a lapsed account the order is: renew if you must, download everything, then cancel. The pre-cancel checklist is in Vimeo export before canceling.
Route 2
Through the API,
with a script and a 24-hour clock.
Direct file links, which is how a library of any size comes out in one evening. Gated one tier above the page download, and the links do not wait.
Check the plan
API downloads need a Standard, Advanced, Pro, Business, Premium or Enterprise plan. Starter and Free do not expose them, whatever token you hold.
Get the scopes
Use a bearer token with the public, private and video_files scopes. The download field is only returned to a token with the private scope.
Read the download field
Request each video with the download field. Each entry carries a quality value: source is your upload, anything else is a re-encode. Take source, or the largest entry when there is none.
Fetch within 24 hours
Download links expire 24 hours after they are issued. Fetch right after the request, and re-request any video whose transfer runs past the window.
The download field lists downloadable files and its links expire in 24 hours. The files field lists the video’s files and its links do not expire. On either, read the quality value: source is yours, anything else came off the playback ladder. A script that grabs the biggest link without reading it exports the 22 Mbps copy as the original.
Route 3
The importer here,
server to server.
Connect Vimeo once, the library appears, and the files move server to server, never through your connection, never re-encoded. It uses the same API route a script would, so it inherits the same plan gate.
Connect Vimeo once
Sign in to Vimeo from the import page. Your library lists itself, ready to select.
Select all, or tick films
The transfer runs server to server, so it never touches your upload speed, and a large master runs as a resumable job that survives a closed laptop.
The largest file Vimeo exposes
For each video the importer takes the largest file Vimeo's API exposes: the source original whenever your plan exposes it, otherwise the largest re-encode. The player streams exactly those bytes.
Small in one pass, large in pieces
Masters under 3 GB go in one pass; larger ones run as a chunked, resumable job. The importer fetches its own download links, so the 24-hour expiry is not yours to manage.
Starter and Free: download from Vimeo's page instead
On Starter, then, the video page is the route. On Standard or above, the importer is the page download with the bulk problem solved and the source original included. Leaving Vimeo covers the order of operations; moving Vimeo videos without re-uploading covers the transfer.
Side by side
Three routes,
one table.
Vimeo prices in US dollars from vimeo.com/upgrade-plan; plan gates, link lifetimes and the bulk rule from Vimeo's help center and API reference, all fetched 2 September 2026.
Check what you got
Source file or re-encode?
Resolution, frame rate, size.
A download named after your film says nothing about what is inside it. Three things do, read against your export.
Resolution and codec first. A re-encode is never larger in pixels than your upload, and on Vimeo it is always H.264 or HEVC, the ladder’s codecs. A file still in ProRes is the source.
Frame rate second. The source keeps whatever you exported. Vimeo’s ladder is written for 30 fps unless a rung says otherwise, 1080p at 60 fps being the noted case, so a mismatched frame rate means a re-encode.
Size is decisive, and it is one division: file size in megabits over duration in seconds is the average bitrate. Vimeo publishes the ceiling a re-encode can carry at each resolution and calls it a maximum, so a file above the ceiling for its resolution cannot be a re-encode.
Maximum transcode bitrates and upload guidance from Vimeo's help center, fetched 2 September 2026. Vimeo states the listed bitrates are a maximum and that it generally transcodes to 30 fps unless otherwise noted.
Take a ten-minute 4K film exported at 50 Mbps, inside Vimeo’s own 30 to 60 Mbps guidance: about 3.75 GB. The same film as a Vimeo H.264 re-encode is at most 1.65 GB, because 22 Mbps is a ceiling. A 1.4 GB download is a re-encode; a 3.7 GB one is your file. The division lives in the bitrate calculator, the reasoning in video bitrate explained, and the same check applies to whatever the importer brought in.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does Vimeo keep the original file I uploaded?
Only on a paid plan with Keep source video files checked, and only while the plan stays paid. The setting is off by default, checking it does not restore files already removed, and a lapsed subscription can delete them beyond recovery. On Free and Basic the default is permanent deletion.
Can I download all my Vimeo videos at once?
Not from Vimeo's site: there is no bulk download from the library, on any plan. To move a whole library, script the API on Standard or above, or use the importer here: one sign-in lists the library and selected films move server to server.
How do I know whether I got the original or a re-encode?
Divide file size by duration for the bitrate, then compare with Vimeo's ladder: 22 Mbps is the H.264 ceiling at 4K, 7 Mbps at 1080p. Above the ceiling, it is your export. A file still in ProRes is always the source, and a changed frame rate is a giveaway.
My paid plan already ended. Can I still download my videos?
Everything above the 1 GB Free cap is restricted, newest uploads first: not deleted, but it cannot be played, edited or downloaded. Downloading is a paid-plan feature, so a paid plan is the way back. Do not delete restricted videos to make room: that is permanent.
I am on Vimeo Starter or Free. What does the importer get me?
Not your source file: Vimeo gates API downloads to Standard, Advanced, Pro, Business, Premium and Enterprise. Download from the video page instead and drop the file in. On Free the page download is unavailable and the source was deleted by default, so upload your own export.
Bring the originals home
Connect Vimeo once; the importer moves your library server to server, source originals wherever your Vimeo plan exposes them, never re-encoded. Free to start with 1 GB. Lite is 100 GB hot for $9 a month, Pro 500 GB for $25, Max 1.5 TB hot plus 1 TB cold for $75.
Sources
- 1.Vimeo Help Center: downloading videos (Share, then Download; a paid-plan feature; no bulk download from the library) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 2.Vimeo Help Center: downloading a source file (bulk downloading not supported; log-in required even for a Public video) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 3.Vimeo Help Center: Store your source files on Vimeo (paid plans only, off by default, no restore of removed files, deletion when a subscription ends, the Free and Basic default, API uploads before September 2016) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 4.Vimeo Help Center: source files deleted 60 days after a paid membership lapses to Basic (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 5.Vimeo API reference: the video response, download and files fields (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 6.Vimeo API reference: the video file response, quality values including source (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 7.Vimeo Help Center: API video file links (plan requirement, scopes, download links valid for 24 hours, files links that do not expire) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 8.Vimeo plans: Starter, Standard and Advanced prices and storage; the 300 GB and 24-hour limits per video file (fetched 2 September 2026, US dollars)
- 9.Vimeo Help Center: guidelines for determining playback resolution (maximum H.264 and HEVC bitrates per rung; 30 fps unless noted) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 10.Vimeo Help Center: upload and compression guidance (recommended bitrates; ProRes 422 HQ 1080p29.97 at 220 Mbps) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 11.Vimeo Help Center: what happens when a paid plan ends (1 GB Free cap, restricted videos, most recent uploads first, permanent deletion of a restricted video) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 12.Vimeo Help Center: recently deleted videos recoverable for 30 days (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 13.uncompressed.io pricing: plans, included storage and the Vimeo importer (verified 2 September 2026)