Migration
Move your Vimeo videos without re-uploading.
Server to server. Nothing through your laptop.
Moving a film library should not mean a weekend of downloading and re-uploading. Connect Vimeo, check which files are available and import them directly into your account. Keep Vimeo live while you test playback and replace your links.
Video hosting for filmmakers · 5 GB free · Paid plans from USD 9/month
By uncompressed.io · Updated 15 September 2026
Import one film and verify what arrived.
Direct import avoids routing the file through your computer. It does not create a missing original or carry across your Vimeo URLs, review history and analytics. Before moving a library, use one film whose local export you still have.
Inspect the available source
In Import from Vimeo, check whether the file offered is the retained source or an encoded version. Access depends on your Vimeo account and file availability.
Compare the completed import
Verify duration, picture, sound, seeking and file size. When you can download both originals, matching checksums establish byte identity; size alone does not.
Handle an unavailable original explicitly
Upload your own export if you have it. If you accept an available rendition, record that it is a rendition; moving it cannot recover detail already removed.
Check the recipient path
Test the new share and website embed in a signed-out browser before expanding the migration. Keep Vimeo active until all required destinations work.
Download the migration checklist. This is a procedure for your pilot, not a claim that every Vimeo account exposes the same files.
The real switching cost
Your next project is worth your weekend.
The download-and-upload loop is not.
Two hundred films can mean two hundred downloads, followed by another round of uploads. Direct import removes that round trip through your computer. Choose the available films you want to move and let the transfer run while you work.
The importer reads your Vimeo library and copies available video files into your storage. It does not delete your Vimeo films or replace your existing embeds. You can check the new copy before switching a single link. For a wider comparison, read Leaving Vimeo.
The move
Four steps.
None of them is an upload.
Connect Vimeo once
Sign in on Vimeo and approve read access to your own videos; nothing on Vimeo changes. Your library appears.
Check the file labels, then select your films
Look for Source file, Vimeo re-encoded version or Available file · source unconfirmed. Check the selected files fit your available storage before importing. Starter holds one film at a time.
Files move server to server
Keep the import tab open while available files transfer directly into your account. Once a film has finished importing, open its new link and check playback.
Swap links, then cancel
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.
The import adds no re-encode. The imported file retains the quality Vimeo made available, the same policy behind hosting that does not compress, and every plan carries the client review room they play in. Test the imported film on the devices your clients use. Browser playback depends on the file’s format and the device; importing a file does not make every codec playable in every browser.
Originals, or Vimeo’s copy
An original and a rendition are different files.
Know which one you are moving.
Your Vimeo plan needs to expose download files to connected apps, and Vimeo needs to retain a usable file for the video. The importer selects an explicitly identified source first. If none is available, it selects the largest usable file instead and shows its source status before you import.
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.
Vimeo’s source retention setting applies to future uploads. Turning it on now does not restore originals already removed. A file labelled Source file is one Vimeo explicitly identifies as the source. Vimeo re-encoded version means a known rendition; Available file · source unconfirmed means Vimeo has not identified it clearly. None of these labels promises browser compatibility.
If the importable copy is a rendition, use the master you kept locally for the best available quality. You can upload it as a new version of the imported film. Importing the rendition cannot restore grain, gradients or detail already removed by encoding.
Big masters
Over the one-pass line, the job moves in parts
and keeps its place.
Files above the one-pass threshold transfer in chunks. Keep the tab open to advance the job. If the transfer stops, return to the import screen and retry; completed chunks can be reused while the same selected file remains available on Vimeo.
3 GB
The one-pass threshold
Up to it, one transfer. Above it, a chunked job.
Same file
Across transfer parts
Resume keeps the original selection. A missing or changed file stops the job instead of mixing copies.
0
Added re-encodes
The import preserves the file Vimeo supplies. A rendition remains a rendition.
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.
Resume needs the same Vimeo file. If it has changed or disappeared, the job stops rather than joining parts from different versions. Older unfinished jobs may also ask you to restart from the beginning. The import screen explains the next step.
Where it lands
No per-view charges; plans vary by storage and team seats.
Pick the plan the library fits in.
Imported files use ready-to-play storage. Starter includes 5 GB and one film at a time; paid plans have larger allowances. Choose enough room for your selected files, then test one film before moving the rest.
Blocks beyond a plan: $50 per TB hot, $25 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 any paid plan, 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
Files move.
Numbers, comments and URLs stay on Vimeo.
This importer moves the video files, not the history around them. Keep the Vimeo account active while you save what you need and replace your links.
View counts and analytics
Stay on Vimeo. Plays here start from zero the day a film lands. Export any figures you report to clients first.
Comments
Stay on Vimeo. Feedback here lives in the review room, timecoded and tied to a version. Save the Vimeo threads you want to keep.
Showcases
Stay on Vimeo. The films inside a showcase move; the showcase, its order and its page do not. Note which films belonged together.
Vimeo URLs and embeds
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
Frequently asked
Does the import go through my computer?
The video file moves from Vimeo directly into your account. Your browser starts and advances the transfer, but does not download and re-upload the video. Keep the import tab open while it runs.
Are my videos re-encoded during the move?
uncompressed.io does not add a re-encode during import. A usable file explicitly identified by Vimeo as the source is selected first. Otherwise the importer uses the largest available file and labels whether it is a Vimeo rendition or an unconfirmed source. Importing a rendition cannot recover detail already removed from it.
I am on Vimeo Starter or Free. What are my options?
Direct import needs download access through Vimeo's API, which is not available on every plan. If a film has no importable file, use your own master, or download it from Vimeo if your account allows that. Connecting does not restore a source file Vimeo no longer retains.
How big a master can the import handle?
Files up to the current 3 GB one-pass threshold use one transfer; larger files use a chunked job. Keep the tab open. Completed chunks can be resumed after interruption if the selected Vimeo file remains available. The file must fit your available storage; a changed or missing source can require a restart.
Will my Vimeo links keep working after I move?
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.
Start with one film. Move the rest when you are ready.
Connect Vimeo and see which files you can import. The free plan includes 5 GB and one film. No credit card required.
Sources
- 1.Vimeo: Upgrade plan (plans, storage, per-file limits) (fetched 2 September 2026; storage per plan, no limit on the number of videos, 300 GB and 24-hour per-file limits)
- 2.Vimeo Help Center: About Vimeo plans (fetched 2 September 2026; storage per plan)
- 3.Vimeo Help Center: how total storage is counted (lifetime cap) (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 4.Vimeo Help Center: Store your source files on Vimeo (checked 7 September 2026; paid plans only, off by default, deleted by default for Free members, at risk when a subscription ends)
- 5.Vimeo Help Center: source files after a paid membership lapses to Basic (fetched 2 September 2026; deleted after 60 days)
- 6.Vimeo Help Center: downloading videos (fetched 2 September 2026; requires a paid plan; no bulk download from the library)
- 7.Vimeo Help Center: downloading a source file (fetched 2 September 2026; bulk downloading not supported)
- 8.Vimeo Help Center: downloading video files through the API (checked 7 September 2026; Standard, Advanced, Pro, Business, Premium or Enterprise plan required; download links valid for 24 hours)
- 9.Vimeo API reference: the video response and its download field (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 10.Vimeo API reference: the video file object and its quality values, including source (fetched 2 September 2026)
- 11.Vimeo Help Center: what happens to videos when a paid plan ends (fetched 2 September 2026; 1 GB free cap, restriction order, embeds and links, privacy switch, permanent deletion)
- 12.Vimeo Terms of Service, section 4.4 (fetched 2 September 2026; the account reverts to free or is deleted at Vimeo's option; you are responsible for archiving your content)
- 13.Vimeo Help Center: recovering recently deleted videos (fetched 2 September 2026; 30 days)
- 14.Vimeo Help Center: guidelines for determining playback resolution (fetched 2 September 2026; every bitrate on the ladder is a maximum)
- 15.uncompressed.io pricing (fetched 2 September 2026; plan storage and prices; unlimited views and external viewers on every plan)
- 16.uncompressed.io Terms of Service (fetched 2 September 2026; no per-view charges apply, no bandwidth caps)
- 17.uncompressed.io: Import from Vimeo (in the dashboard, sign-in required) (implementation checked 7 September 2026; explicit source preference, labelled fallback, tab-driven resumable jobs above the one-pass threshold)