Migration
The price never kept anyone on Vimeo; the weekend of re-uploading two hundred films did. Connect Vimeo once and the files move from Vimeo's servers into your account: originals where Vimeo still holds them, nothing re-encoded, nothing through your connection. What moves, what does not, and which Vimeo plans allow it.
No credit card required. Cancel any time.
Updated September 2026
The real switching cost
A library is not stuck on Vimeo because Vimeo is good value. It is stuck because leaving meant opening every video page, downloading each file one at a time, then uploading it all again elsewhere. Vimeo’s help center is plain that there is no bulk download. That is a lost weekend, and the weekend never comes.
The import removes the weekend rather than shortening it. Files move from Vimeo’s servers into your storage while the percentage climbs on screen. Nothing is uploaded from your machine, and nothing on Vimeo is posted, edited or deleted, so the old account stays as it was while you swap links. The reasons to leave are on the parent guide, Leaving Vimeo; this page is only about the move.
The move
Sign in on Vimeo and approve read access to your own videos; nothing on Vimeo changes. Your library appears.
Imported films count against your plan's storage. If the selection does not fit, nothing starts; pick the plan the library fits in first.
Each film is pulled from Vimeo's servers into your account and gets its own link here the moment it lands.
Vimeo keeps serving the old URLs while you replace embeds and links. When nothing points at Vimeo any more, cancel. The order matters; the last section explains why.
Nothing is re-encoded on the way in or out. The player streams the exact bytes that arrived, the same policy behind hosting that does not compress, and every plan carries the client review room they play in. Bandwidth is never metered, so the move costs nothing beyond the storage the films occupy.
Originals, or Vimeo’s copy
Two things decide what the importer gets for each video: whether your Vimeo plan exposes downloads to connected apps at all, which Vimeo gates to Standard, Advanced and Enterprise plus the older Pro, Business and Premium plans, never Starter or Free; and whether the account ever ticked Keep source video files, off by default on every paid plan.
Plan facts from Vimeo's upgrade page, help center and API documentation, fetched 2 September 2026. Pro, Business and Premium are older plans no longer listed on Vimeo's upgrade page.
If the box was ticked while the plan was paid, the file that moves is the file you uploaded, byte for byte. If it never was, Vimeo does not have your original, and the largest file it serves is Vimeo’s own top rendition, capped by the bitrate ladder the parent guide charts. Nothing further happens to it here, but for a graded master its ceiling is low.
The fix is the master on your drive. Upload it as a new version of the imported film; the imported copy holds the place until then.
Big masters
Under the line, a master moves in one pass. Above it, the transfer runs as a chunked, resumable job. Close the laptop mid-transfer and nothing is lost: reopen the import screen and the unfinished film continues from where it stopped.
3 GB
The one-pass line
Under it, one pass. Above it, a chunked, resumable job.
300 GB
Vimeo's per-file ceiling
The largest file Vimeo holds on any plan, with a 24-hour duration limit alongside it.
0
Re-encodes on the way in
The file that lands is the file Vimeo served: the source where the plan exposes it, byte for byte.
None
Of it through your laptop
Your browser signs in, ticks the films and reads the percentage. The bytes go from Vimeo's servers into your account.
Keep the tab open while a transfer runs; the browser uploads nothing. If the tab closes, the job pauses where it is and resumes when you return.
Where it lands
Imported films count against your plan’s storage and nothing else. Views, uploads and viewers are unlimited on every plan, including the free one.
Blocks beyond a plan: $40 per TB hot, $20 per TB cold, a month. Pricing page and Terms, fetched 2 September 2026.
Imported films arrive hot, where anything a client might click belongs. On Max and Vault a finished project can later move to cold storage at half the hot rate, where it does not stream, embed or review until you bring it back; hot vs cold storage for footage has the arithmetic. The free plan is enough to test the pipeline with one real file.
What does not move
No platform transfers another’s analytics or links, and this one is no exception. Know what stays behind, and keep the Vimeo account alive until every link has been swapped.
Stay on Vimeo. Plays here start from zero the day a film lands. Export any figures you report to clients first.
Stay on Vimeo. Feedback here lives in the review room, timecoded and tied to a version. Save the Vimeo threads you want to keep.
Stay on Vimeo. The films inside a showcase move; the showcase, its order and its page do not. Note which films belonged together.
Point at Vimeo until you change them. Each imported film has a new link here, and the old links work only while the Vimeo account does.
The last card is why the order matters. When a paid plan ends, Vimeo’s help center says, the account drops to the free cap and everything above it is restricted. Restricted videos are not deleted, but they cannot be played, edited or downloaded, embeds stop working and shared links no longer play. Vimeo’s terms add that the account may, at Vimeo’s option, revert to free or be deleted, and that you are responsible for archiving your content.
1 GB
The free cap
Where a Vimeo library must fit once the paid plan ends; everything above it is restricted, newest first.
30 days
To recover a deleted video
On a working account. Deleting a restricted video is permanent, so do not count on it during a lapse.
60 days
Until source files go
After a lapse to Vimeo's legacy Basic tier; on current plans the help center says only that they may be deleted and not recoverable.
So the order is fixed. Import while the plan is paid and the source files still exist. Swap links second. Cancel last, once nothing you care about points at Vimeo; if years of press point at Vimeo URLs, keep the free account as a stub while the library fits under its cap. The full exit sequence is in cancel Vimeo without losing your videos.
When you should not bother
Questions
No. Files move from Vimeo's servers into your account. Your browser signs in to Vimeo, picks the films and shows the progress; it never uploads a byte.
No. Nothing is transcoded on the way in, and the player streams the exact bytes stored. The only re-encode in the chain is the one Vimeo made at upload time, and it reaches you only if Vimeo no longer holds your source file. If it does, the original moves byte for byte.
Vimeo exposes no downloads to connected apps on Starter or Free, so those films show as not importable. On Starter, download each film from its video page and drop it into your library here; Vimeo's help center says there is no bulk download. On Free, downloading requires a paid plan, so the master on your drive is the source.
Masters under 3 GB move in one pass; larger ones run as a chunked, resumable job that survives a closed laptop. Vimeo itself holds files up to 300 GB and 24 hours long on every plan.
Only while the Vimeo account does. Keep it alive, paid or free if the library fits under the free cap, until every embed and link has been swapped. Once a paid plan ends, videos above the cap are restricted: embeds stop, shared links stop playing, and nothing can be downloaded until the library fits again.
Unlimited views, uploads and viewers on every plan. Storage is the only meter: pick the plan your library fits in and connect Vimeo once.