Videos
How to download original videos
DynTube delivers your videos as adaptive streams built from many small segments, not as the file you uploaded. Downloading your source file back is therefore a separate feature: the project has to have been set to keep originals at the time you uploaded, and the video then offers a Download Original action.
Updated 30 August 2026
What you are downloading
Two different things can be downloaded from a video, and they are not the same file. The MP4 renditions are files DynTube produced from your upload for delivery. The original is the exact file you uploaded, kept aside untouched. This article is about the second one.
Step 1 — make sure the project keeps originals
- Open Video Library in the dashboard and edit the project the video will go into.
- Stay on the Details tab and find the Video encoding and delivery section.
- Check Save Original Videos. New video projects start with it on, so in most cases there is nothing to change — but confirm rather than assume, because it can be turned off.
- If you changed it, save the project.
This setting is on the project, not on your account, and it is captured onto each upload when that upload starts. Turning it on later does not go back and retain originals for videos already in the project; from that point on, new uploads into the project keep theirs.
Step 2 — download the original
- Open Video Library and find the video.
- Wait until the video is Ready. The action is not offered at all while the video is still processing.
- Open the video’s actions menu and choose Download Original.
- The browser is sent to a temporary link that serves the file as an attachment, so it saves rather than opening in a player.
The video’s Download tab offers the same file a second way. Under Original File, Get Download Link generates the same kind of temporary URL and copies it to your clipboard, which is the option to use when you want to hand the link to a tool rather than download it in the browser you are signed in with.
When the original is not available
| What you see | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| There is no Download Original action on the video | The video is not Ready. The action only appears for videos that have finished processing. | Wait for processing to finish, then reopen the actions menu. |
| The download fails with a not-found response | No original is retained for that video — it was uploaded while the project was not keeping originals. | Nothing can restore it. Turn Save Original Videos on for the project and upload the source file again if you need one on record. |
| The link worked earlier and no longer does | The signed link expired. It is valid for one hour. | Go back to the video and start the download again to mint a fresh link. |
| The video is listed but the action never appears | Your account access does not include managing videos. | Ask an account owner to grant the Manage Videos permission. |
Worth knowing
- Retaining originals uses storage. Turn Save Original Videos off for projects where you keep your own masters and do not need DynTube to hold a second copy.
- The original is your file as uploaded. Its size, codec and quality are whatever you exported — it is not the streaming rendition and is usually much larger.
- Downloading the original is an account-side action, entirely separate from Allow Video Downloads, which is the viewer-facing setting on the video’s Download tab.
- Moving a video to a different project does not retroactively change whether its original was retained. That was fixed at upload time.
Related articles
- How to Save Original Source Files
- How to Use Original MP4 Without Transcoding
- How to Upload & Embed Videos
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us and we will correct it. New to DynTube? Start with uploading and embedding.