Projects
How to Save Original Source Files
Save Original Videos is a video project setting. With it on, DynTube keeps a copy of the file you uploaded as well as the streams and MP4s it produces, so you can retrieve the source later. It is decided per project, and it applies to uploads made after it is saved.
Updated 30 August 2026
What the setting does
When you upload a video, DynTube processes it into the renditions the player needs — adaptive HLS streams, and MP4 files where the project asks for them. The file you supplied is not one of those renditions. Save Original Videos is the decision to retain that supplied file too, so it can be handed back to you later instead of only living in your own archive.
The dashboard states it plainly: “Keep a copy of the original uploaded video file.” That is the whole promise. It does not change what viewers are served, it does not change encoding, and it is not a way to skip transcoding — that is a different project setting, Use original as MP4.
Before you start
- This is a video project setting. It sits in the Video encoding and delivery block, which a video project has and an audio project does not. Audio projects keep their own retention control on their Audio tab.
- You need the Manage Projects permission. Both creating and editing a project require it; without it the project form is replaced by a permission notice.
- Decide before you upload. The project’s settings are captured onto each upload at the moment it starts, so the switch has to be saved first.
- Expect the storage. Keeping originals means storing your source files in addition to everything DynTube produces from them, and masters are usually the largest files in a project.
Turn it on for a new project
- Open the Video Library from the dashboard sidebar and choose New Project.
- On the Details tab, fill in the project name and storage region.
- Scroll to the Video encoding and delivery section. Save Original Videos is the first switch in it, above Adaptive Streaming (HLS).
- Confirm the switch reads the way you want it. A new project starts with Save Original Videos already on, so leave it alone to keep originals, and turn it off only if you deliberately do not want them retained.
- Choose Create Project to finish, or Create & Continue to carry straight on into the project’s other tabs. Either one saves the setting.
Turn it on for an existing project
- Open the Video Library and open the project you want to change.
- Choose Edit. The project form opens at /projects/edit/ followed by the project id.
- Stay on the Details tab and find the Video encoding and delivery section.
- Switch Save Original Videos on.
- Choose Save Changes in the page header. A confirmation reading “Project updated successfully” means the setting is stored; “Failed to save changes” means it is not, and the switch you are looking at is unsaved.
Why the order matters
Each upload takes a copy of its project’s output settings when it starts, and processing then follows that copy. Changing the project afterwards does not reach back into work that has already been captured, which is why turning this on today does nothing for a video uploaded yesterday.
- To retain the source of a video that is already in the project, upload it again after the setting is saved.
- Re-transcoding a video from its original also retains the original for that video, because that operation needs the source file to exist.
- Videos uploaded while the setting was off keep the behaviour they were uploaded with, even after you switch it on.
Getting an original back later
- Open the video in the dashboard.
- Go to its Download tab.
- In the Original File card, choose Get Download Link. It generates a temporary download URL for the original file and copies it to your clipboard.
- Paste the link into your browser or download tool before it expires. It is temporary by design — treat it as a one-off retrieval, not a permanent address to publish.
This is a different thing from letting viewers download a video. Allow Video Downloads, on the same tab, offers a produced MP4 to your audience; the Original File card hands your own source file back to you. Turning one on does not turn the other on.
Settings this is often confused with
| Setting | Where it lives | What it actually decides |
|---|---|---|
| Save Original Videos | Project → Details → Video encoding and delivery | Whether DynTube keeps the file you uploaded, in addition to everything it produces from it. |
| Use original as MP4 | Project → Details → MP4 Output | Whether a compatible upload is served as that video’s MP4 instead of an MP4 being encoded from it. About delivery, not retention. |
| Allow Video Downloads | Video → Download | Whether viewers are offered a download of the video. About your audience, not your archive. |
| Original File → Get Download Link | Video → Download | Retrieval of a retained original by you, as a temporary URL. It has something to hand back only if the original was retained. |
If it does not behave as expected
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| There is no Video encoding and delivery section | The project is an audio project, so it has no video output settings at all. | Use a video project, or use the audio project’s own retention control on its Audio tab. |
| An older video has no original to retrieve | It was uploaded before the setting was saved, so nothing was retained for it. | Upload it again into the project, or re-transcode it from its original if one exists. |
| The switch looks on but nothing was kept | The change was never saved — moving between tabs is not the same as leaving the switch untouched and walking away. | Re-open the project, set the switch and confirm the “Project updated successfully” message before leaving. |
| The project form is replaced by a permission notice | Your user does not hold the Manage Projects permission. | Ask an account administrator to grant it, or have someone who holds it make the change. |
| Storage is growing faster than expected | Originals are retained for every upload into the project, and they are typically larger than the renditions. | Turn the setting off for projects whose sources you already archive elsewhere. It stops future uploads from being retained; it does not remove what is already stored. |
Related articles
- How to Download Original Videos
- How to Edit Project Settings
- How to Upload & Embed Videos
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