Before the release date
Secure screener sharing.
Control access. Plan for the copy that escapes.
Forwarded links, stray downloads, phones pointed at screens: screeners leak in boring ways. Here is what each control stops, what defeats it, and a four-step review round that reduces avoidable exposure.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
The threat model
Nobody hacks a screener.
Someone passes it along.
Unreleased footage rarely leaks through a clever attack. It leaks because a viewer forwarded a link, kept a download, or recorded a screen. Each path has a different fix, and most tools you could reach for only cover the first one.
Start with how long a sent copy stays reachable. A Smash transfer link keeps working for 7 days on the free tier and 30 days on paid plans. Dropbox Transfer links expire after 7 or 30 days by default, and Dropbox then holds the files on its servers for another 30 to 180 days past the expiration date, depending on plan. For that whole window the screener sits one paste away from an inbox you have never heard of, read from vendor help pages, September 2026.
Generic clouds also push viewers toward the download button. On a Dropbox shared link, a viewer can stream only the first 30 minutes of a video when the file owner is on the free plan; to keep watching, the documented remedy is downloading the file. Vimeo’s help pages note that enabling downloads on a video exposes the source file itself to viewers, and that stored source files may be deleted, unrecoverably, if the subscription ends. A downloaded copy answers to nobody: it cannot be expired, revoked, or counted.
The forwarded link
The cheapest leak there is. One paste moves the screener to someone you never approved, and a password pasted alongside it travels just as easily.
The stray download
A file handed over is a file you no longer govern. It syncs to personal clouds, sits in Downloads folders, and outlives the project.
The screen recording
A recorder or a phone may capture the picture. Supported DRM or native restrictions can reduce software capture, while watermarks may help investigate a recovered copy. Neither prevents a camera filming the screen.
Measure by measure
What each control stops,
and what defeats it
Security features are not interchangeable. A password and a forensic watermark solve different problems, and vendors like to sell one as the other. Line the measures up against the three leak paths and the gaps show immediately.
The table is the short version of the security page: each measure, the exposure it reduces, and its limitations. An authorized recipient may still copy footage. Layered controls reduce risk rather than closing every path. The NexGuard head to head compares deployment and buying requirements with a specialist watermarking provider.
Vault access is included across plans and requires authorized playback on a compatible Mac. Test the actual review setup before sensitive use. This table does not establish independently validated protection or guaranteed watermark recovery.
The round
A secure screener round,
start to revoke
Four moves, all from the share panel of the review room you already send clients to. The same round works for a festival cut, an embargoed trailer, or dailies a client should watch once and never hold.
Vault the master
Upload the export, enable Vault and confirm each recipient can use the authorized macOS app. The native playback cache is encrypted; test the access and playback controls before the review round.
Gate the link
Set a password or unlisted access, add an expiry, and leave the download switch off. The share link is the auth, so reviewers need no account to watch.
Mark every viewer
Each session carries the visible watermark, and each viewer's stream carries its own invisible Tardos-code mark. Any copy that escapes, including a screen recording, points at one person.
Watch, then revoke
Check who has opened the screener while the round runs, then pull access when it wraps. Verify it like a backup: open your own link in a private window afterward and confirm it is dead.
What the round buys you
One authoritative copy,
zero loose files
None of this costs quality. A screener viewer streams the exact export you uploaded at its own bitrate, master audio track included: a 200 Mbps master streams at 200 Mbps. Locking footage down should not mean showing a director a mushy proxy of their own film, and here it does not.
0
Files handed over
Keep ordinary downloads off during review. This reduces casual copying; it does not make capture impossible.
1
Authoritative copy
The master sits in encrypted-at-rest vault storage. Revocation restricts future access; it cannot recall copies already obtained.
Native
Camera-file playback
The secured copy is the full-quality one: the macOS app plays R3D, BRAW and N-RAW natively, and web links stream your export's exact bytes.
5 of 5
Plans with the full stack
Passwords, expiring access, watermarks and vault storage on every tier, including Free. No per-view charges; plans vary by storage and team seats.
Before sensitive use
Test the controls,
on the real review setup.
Access control, capture restrictions and attribution are different jobs
A password controls access. DRM or native playback restrictions can limit some software capture paths on supported devices. Encryption protects stored data. Watermarks can deter redistribution and provide information for an investigation. No single measure does all four jobs.
Test the recipient’s device, app and capture tools before sending an unreleased cut. A camera can still record a screen. If a copy escapes, preserve it and correlate any recovered watermark with access history; a match alone does not prove who redistributed it.
Keep the access decision separate from the edit decision
Document who is intended to receive the screener and which sharing method you chose. Test the actual viewer experience rather than relying on the label of a security feature. A forwarded link and verified recipient identity are different things.
Track editorial feedback and final acceptance separately from viewing access. A project report can explain the review history, but it does not certify that a recipient could never copy the film or replace the access controls required by your project.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can you stop someone from screen-recording a screener in a browser?
A password alone cannot prevent recording. Browser DRM can restrict some capture paths on supported devices. The uncompressed.io Vault uses a separate macOS playback path with capture restrictions and viewer watermarks. A camera can still film any screen.
Do watermarks actually prevent leaks?
Watermarks can deter casual redistribution and help investigate a recovered copy. A visible mark identifies the viewing session; an invisible mark is designed to retain identifying information through some alterations. Cropping, recompression and recording can weaken recovery. Neither mark guarantees prevention or attribution.
Is a password-protected link enough for unreleased footage?
A password stops strangers who only have the URL, and nothing else. It gets forwarded in the same message as the link, and it does not touch recordings or downloads. For embargoed material, pair it with expiring access, watermarks on every session, and the download switch left off.
What is the minimum worth doing for a routine client screener?
Use a private or password-protected review link, set an expiry and keep original downloads off until delivery. Confirm who needs access. For more sensitive footage, test the Vault native workflow and its watermark controls with the actual recipients.
What happens when the client needs the actual file?
Flip the download switch on that one video and the original file, the exact bytes you uploaded, becomes downloadable for them. Do it at delivery, not during review: a downloaded copy cannot be expired or revoked. Turning downloads off reduces casual copying; it does not guarantee that no copy can be made.
Screen it without giving it away
Vault storage, per-video passwords, expiring access, supported native session identification and forensic marks. On every uncompressed.io plan, including Free.
Sources
- 1.Dropbox Transfer: an overview, Dropbox Help (link expiry defaults and the 30 to 180 day post-expiry server deletion window)
- 2.Dropbox video and audio playback FAQs, Dropbox Help (shared-link streaming caps set by the file owner's plan)
- 3.Smash Pricing (transfer link validity, 7 days free and 30 days on paid tiers)
- 4.Store your source files on Vimeo, Vimeo Help Center (source-file exposure when downloads are enabled, and deletion on lapse)