Before Stillhaven was a product, it was the place I kept video for my own clients. I shoot aerial footage for construction and real estate companies. Every job ends the same way: a large video file, and a client who needs to watch it and tell me what to change.
Getting the video to them should be the easy part. Here are the ways I know to do it, what each one costs you, and what I do now.
Why you can't send a video through email
Email was built for messages, not footage. A personal Gmail account stops attachments at 25 MB. Outlook stops at 20 or 25 MB, depending on the account.
That is very little video. My own flight files typically run between 350 and 500 MB, which is fourteen to twenty times the Gmail limit. Compressing does not close the gap. By our own numbers, ten minutes of 1080p is still about 0.4 GB after it has been compressed for streaming.
So if your video is too large to send, the answer is always the same: the video lives somewhere else, and the email carries a link. Gmail already does this for you. Go over the limit and it swaps the attachment for a Google Drive link.
The real question is where the video should live.
How to send a long video: three ways, and what each costs you
1. A cloud drive link
Put the file in Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive and send the link.
- Good for: a client who needs the file itself, to edit it or to keep it.
- What it costs you: you are handing over a file, not a screening. The client watches in the drive's preview or downloads it first. Their notes come back in an email that says "around the two minute mark". Unless you set it otherwise, the link keeps working long after the job is done.
2. A file transfer service
Upload the file to a transfer service, and it gives the client a download link that expires.
- Good for: a one-time handoff of a finished file.
- What it costs you: it is built for delivery, not for watching. Feedback happens somewhere else. If the client comes back after the link has expired, you upload the file again.
3. A video link
Upload the video to a host and send a link that plays in the browser.
- Good for: a client who needs to watch it and respond. It plays on whatever they have in front of them, with nothing to download.
- What it costs you: hosting is a paid service, and the client gets a stream, not your original file, unless the host lets you offer a download. The free version of this is an unlisted YouTube link, and unlisted is not private. Anyone who has the link can watch it and pass it on.
Send a video link instead
Most of the time my client does not need the file. They need to watch it and tell me what to change. So I send a video link. This is the part Stillhaven does:
- Upload the large file once. Up to 100 GB per file. We keep your original, with an MP4 download of every video.
- Send it by email from the same place. Pick up to ten people, add a note, and choose how long their link works. Each person gets their own email with a button to watch, sent the moment the video is ready.
- Give the link an end date. It stops working after six hours, a day, or up to thirty days. Revoke it sooner if you like.
- Put a password on it. A protected page also stops generating link previews, so a forwarded link cannot show a frame to somebody it was not meant for.
- Get the notes back on the video. The client leaves a name and a comment without making an account. Each note is stamped to the second it refers to and marked on the timeline. You reply or resolve, and they sign off when the cut is right.
All of that is on every plan. The details are on the features page, and the plans are on the pricing page.
When to send the file anyway
A video link is for watching. Sometimes the client needs the file as well: their editor needs your original, or their records need a copy.
In Stillhaven, a video's settings include Allow download on share page. Turn it on and the share page gets a Download button, so the client can save an MP4 of the video. That is the copy made for streaming, not your original file.
When the client needs the original, download it from the console and send it with a cloud drive or a transfer service. Often the job needs both: the link while the cut is being reviewed, and the file once they sign off.
No file yet? Record your screen and webcam and send it
Sometimes there is no file. You want to walk a client through a proposal, answer their notes, or show their staff how something works.
For that, record your screen and webcam in the browser. In Stillhaven you record your screen, your camera, or both from the console, with no app to install. Parts are saved as you go, so a closed tab loses seconds. Captions are on by default, and the share link works before processing finishes. Then send it the same way as any other video: by email, with a link that expires.
Solo records up to 30 minutes at a time. From Creator there is no limit. How recording works.
The short version
- You cannot send a large video file through email. Email stops at about 25 MB.
- If the client needs a copy to keep, let them download an MP4 from the share page. If they need your original, send it with a cloud drive link or a transfer link.
- If the client needs to watch it and respond, send a video link.
- If there is no file yet, record your screen and webcam and send that.
Every monthly Stillhaven plan starts with 14 days free.