Delivery guide
Photo and video gallery for photographers: how to deliver the film with the stills
A wedding film that arrives as a separate transfer link, weeks after the photos, is how most video still gets delivered, and it is why couples end up asking where the film went. This guide covers how to deliver video to clients inside the same gallery as the photos: what the common gallery tools allow, how to export a film that plays in any browser, and how to set download rules so the full-quality file reaches the right people.
Why video breaks the usual handover
Photographers who have delivered galleries for years often still send the film another way. The reasons are practical, and each one has a fix.
It is big
A finished wedding gallery of 600 JPEGs at 2048px is around 1 GB. A single hour of 1080p film at a normal delivery bitrate is several times that, and a 4K version is bigger again. Anything built around photo-sized files, from email to the free tier of a transfer service, either refuses the file or expires before the couple gets round to it. Storage is the first thing to check on any tool you plan to use, because one film will use more of it than a year of portrait sessions.
People want to watch it, not download it
A couple opens the link on a phone in bed and presses play. If the only option is a 6 GB download, they do not watch it that night, and the first reaction you hear is a question about why it does not work. A gallery that transcodes the file and streams it in the browser fixes that. The full-quality download is still there for the people who want to keep a copy, but it is no longer the only way in.
The film and the stills arrive separately
The film is usually ready weeks after the photos, sometimes from a different person, and it tends to go out as a transfer link that lives for three or seven days. Six months later the couple has a gallery they can find and a film they cannot. Putting the clip into the same gallery, even if it is added later, means one link holds the whole wedding and stays where they left it.
Video in the common gallery tools
The four tools most photographers in Europe end up choosing between, and how each one treats a video file. Quotas and prices checked September 2026.
| What matters | Pixieset Video from Basic, USD 10 per month | Pic-Time Video on every plan, priced in USD | picdrop Conversion hours from Pro, EUR 14.99 per month | Photoglacier Video on every plan, from EUR 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video on the free plan | None. Video starts on Basic at USD 10 per month, or USD 8 billed yearly | 1 GB of video next to 10 GB of photos; the free allowance shrinks to 3 GB after six months | No conversion allowance listed on Free, which is 1 GB and three galleries in total | One clip per gallery, inside the 5 GB of free storage |
| How video is limited | By minutes: 30 minutes of HD on Basic, up to about five hours in total on the higher plans | By a separate video quota in GB: 5 GB on Beginner, 30 GB on Professional, 60 GB on Advanced | By conversion time per month: one hour on Pro, two on Advanced, four on Business | By clips per gallery: one on Free, three on Starter, unlimited on Pro and Studio. Files up to 10 GB each |
| Playback in the browser | Yes, on the paid plans | Yes, up to 4K | Yes, once the file has been converted | Yes, on every plan; transcoding is included |
| Download quality | Capped at 2048px unless you are on Pro or Ultimate, which allow 4K | Up to 4K on the plans we checked | Not specified on the plans we checked | The file you uploaded, when downloads are switched on for the gallery |
| Where it counts | A minute allowance per plan, separate from the photo storage | A video quota in GB, separate from the photo storage | Against storage, plus the monthly conversion hours | Against the same storage as the photos; an extra 100 GB costs EUR 5 per month on any paid plan |
Delivering a wedding film with the photos
Five steps that work whichever gallery tool you use. The aim is one link the couple can press play on tonight, and a full-quality file they can keep.
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Export an H.264 MP4 at 1080p or 4K
H.264 in an MP4 container is the one combination every browser, phone and television plays without a plugin. Export at 1080p for the version people will watch on a phone, or 4K if you shot and graded in 4K and the couple asked for it. Leave newer codecs for your archive: a gallery that transcodes will accept them, but you want the original download to play anywhere too.
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Keep the highlight film and the full film as separate clips
A four-minute highlight is what gets watched and shared. The ceremony, the speeches and the first dance in full are what gets kept. Export them as separate files rather than one long edit, so the short one plays immediately and the long one can be downloaded by the people who want it. On a plan with a clip limit, the highlight is the one that goes in first.
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Upload the clips into the same gallery as the stills
Put the film where the photos already are, ideally in its own section so it sits at the top or the end rather than between two portraits. If the film is finished weeks after the photos, add it to the existing gallery and tell the couple, rather than opening a second link. The gallery they already bookmarked is the one they will find in five years.
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Set the download rules per gallery
Decide who may download the full-quality file. For most weddings the answer is the couple, with a download PIN so a guest who was passed the link can watch but not pull a 6 GB file. If downloads are off, the film still streams. Check the gallery's storage before uploading: a full 1080p wedding film can be several gigabytes, and it counts like any other file.
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Send one link with a note on what to expect
A short message goes further than any feature: the photos are in the sections, the highlight film is at the top, the full ceremony is below it, press play to watch, use the download button and the PIN to keep a copy. Say how long the gallery stays online, and that the link can be shared with family. One message, one link, and no follow-up asking where the film went.
Formats and sizes that behave
Most playback problems come from the export settings, not from the gallery. These four settings decide whether the file plays everywhere and how much storage it takes.
Codec: H.264 in an MP4 container
H.264 with AAC audio in an MP4 file is the universal choice. HEVC and ProRes are better for editing and archiving but do not play in every browser, so keep them for your own copy. If the gallery transcodes for playback it will still accept them, but the client's download will be whatever you uploaded.
Bitrate: enough, not maximum
A delivery bitrate of around 10 to 20 Mbps at 1080p looks clean on a television and keeps a one-hour film in the single gigabytes. 4K wants roughly two to three times that. Doubling the bitrate beyond that point doubles the file and the upload time without a visible gain on the screens people actually use.
Aspect ratio: export what you framed
A 16:9 film should be exported at 1920 by 1080 or 3840 by 2160 with no letterbox baked in. Vertical clips for social media are 9:16 and should stay that way; a player shows the frame it is given, and a vertical clip padded to 16:9 looks worse everywhere. Export each version separately rather than forcing one into the other.
File naming: sortable and self-explaining
Name the clips so they read correctly outside the gallery, once they are on the couple's own drive: the date, the names, and what the clip is. A name like 2026-06-14 Anna and Tom Highlight Film.mp4 sorts next to the photos and needs no explanation. Avoid names like final_v3_export2.mp4, which are for you, not for them.
Photos and video in one Photoglacier gallery
Photoglacier treats a video file like any other file in a gallery: upload it next to the photos, it is transcoded for playback in the browser, and it counts against the same storage. The company is in Austria and the files sit on servers in Germany. There is no watermarking, no print shop, and the free plan carries Photoglacier branding, so if you need any of those, the tools above cover them.
- Video plays in the browser on every plan, including Free; transcoding is included
- One clip per gallery on Free, three on Starter, unlimited on Pro and Studio, each file up to 10 GB
- Video counts against the same storage as the photos: 5 GB free, 100 GB on Starter, 500 GB on Pro, 2 TB on Studio, plus EUR 5 per month for each extra 100 GB on a paid plan
- Downloads on or off per gallery; download PINs and passwords come with Starter
- Clients need no account or app, and a gallery never expires
Questions people are asking
Can I deliver photos and video in one gallery?
Yes, on all four tools compared here, though the free plans differ. Pixieset only allows video from its Basic plan, Pic-Time's free plan includes 1 GB of video, picdrop lists conversion hours from Pro upwards, and Photoglacier allows one clip per gallery on the free plan. One link with the film and the stills together is easier for the couple, and easier to find again later.
What is the best video gallery for photographers?
The one whose video limit matches how you deliver. If you send one highlight film per wedding, a clip-based limit like Photoglacier's is the simplest to live with. If you deliver hours of footage, look at Pixieset's minute allowance or Pic-Time's video quota in GB and do the arithmetic against a typical job. If you need 4K downloads, check the plan: Pixieset caps video downloads at 2048px below Pro.
Do clients need to download a video to watch it?
Not in a gallery that transcodes for playback. All four tools compared here play video in the browser, so the couple presses play on a phone or laptop without installing anything. The download is a separate action for people who want a copy to keep, and you can switch it off or protect it with a PIN.
What video format should I deliver?
An MP4 file with H.264 video and AAC audio, at 1080p or 4K. It plays in every browser and on every phone and television, and it is the file the gallery hands back when a client downloads. Keep HEVC or ProRes masters for your archive rather than sending them to clients.
How big is a wedding film?
A four-minute highlight film at 1080p is usually between 300 MB and 1 GB. A full-length edit of the ceremony and speeches, an hour at a normal delivery bitrate, runs to several gigabytes, and a 4K version can be two to three times that. Check the size against the gallery's storage and its per-file limit before uploading; on Photoglacier a single file can be up to 10 GB.
Does video count against storage?
It depends on the tool. Photoglacier and picdrop count video against the same storage as the photos, with picdrop adding a monthly conversion allowance in hours. Pic-Time gives video its own quota in GB next to the photo storage. Pixieset measures video in minutes rather than GB. A wedding film uses more space than the photos it accompanies, so this is the row to read first.
Can clients download the video in full quality?
Usually, but check the plan. Pixieset caps video downloads at 2048px unless you are on Pro or Ultimate. On Photoglacier the download is the file you uploaded whenever downloads are switched on for that gallery, so export at the quality you want them to keep. Where a client should watch but not download, turn downloads off or set a PIN.
A photo and video gallery for photographers, in one link
A video gallery for photographers is not a separate product. It is a client gallery that accepts a video file, transcodes it so the couple can press play in a browser, and applies the same download rules as the photos. The reason the film so often goes out as a transfer link is that older gallery tools treated video as an afterthought, with separate quotas, minute allowances or resolution caps on the download. Pick a tool where the film counts like any other file, and the question of where the video went stops being asked.
Photoglacier is a photo and video gallery for photographers, built in Austria and hosted in Germany. You deliver video to clients by uploading the clip into the same gallery as the stills: it plays in the browser on every plan, files can be up to 10 GB each, and downloads follow the gallery's own switch and PIN. The free plan holds 5 GB with one clip per gallery, Starter allows three, and Pro and Studio have no clip limit. Clients open the link without an account, and the gallery stays online until you take it down.
More guides
Photoglacier is not affiliated with Pixieset, Pic-Time or picdrop. Product names are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the services this page compares. Plan limits, video quotas and prices were checked in September 2026 and change without notice, so verify current terms on each vendor's own site.
The film and the photos in one link
Video plays in the browser on every plan. Free plan with 5 GB, EU hosting, no card needed.
