We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

Redkanter's avatar
Redkanter
New member | Level 2
2 months ago

Are videos uploaded to Dropbox slightly compressed?

Hi - I've noticed that videos uploaded to Dropbox are slightly compressed (could be happening with other formats but I just haven't noticed). 1.4GB video turns into a 1.3GB video. An 18 MB video turns into a 17MB video. An 55MB video turns into a 53MB video. This is happening on both mobile and computer upload. Is this normal or is this something I can turn off to upload in full quality? If this is normal, what is the compression that's being run on these videos? Thanks. 

    • Redkanter's avatar
      Redkanter
      New member | Level 2

      @radical_exponent Oh interesting. I re-downloaded the file to confirm and the file sizes do match with the original. That's super confusing for users FYI - it does seem Dropbox is the only one that's different. My phone (andriod), laptop (mac) and google photos all show the "same" file size in this case whereas Dropbox is the only one that shows a slightly different file size. You guys might want to considering changing this to be more consistent considering it seems like most others are showing it the other way. 

      • radical_exponent's avatar
        radical_exponent
        Icon for Dropbox Engineer rankDropbox Engineer

        I would love to make things all consistent, but unfortunately the major platforms don't agree.

         

        For example, macOS uses base 1000, but Windows uses base 1024 😕

         

        To clarify, are you seeing different sizes (ahem, units) when looking at the same file on in the Dropbox android app vs Dropbox on the web? Or when you say android do you mean what the system said, prior to importing the file into the Dropbox app?

About Storage Space

Looking for help with managing the storage space in your Dropbox account? Talk to the Dropbox Community and get advice from members.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!