Frame.io Explained: Easily Share Footage with Frame.io Transfer

Enterprise, Workflow 5 MIN READ

December 14, 2020

Frame.io Explained: Easily Share Footage with Frame.io Transfer

So how many of us dread the task of transferring vast amounts of footage across the internet? I know I used to.

I still don’t have a super-fast connection, so sharing just a few clips used to take me hours. If you’ve got gigabit internet at home, I envy you. A lot.

However, even with high-speed internet at your disposal, there’s still plenty of things that can go wrong. I’ve closed plenty of browser tabs before a transfer was really complete, and my wifi loves to tap out three days into a massive transfer. It’s…suboptimal.

Thankfully, the days of lost connections and corrupted files are over!

In our latest episode of Frame.io Explained, we’re taking a look at how Frame.io Transfer makes sharing files with your remote team easier than ever.

File transfer options

Fortunately, there are solutions to this particular issue. For the longest time, FTP (file transfer protocol) was the big game in town. In fact Arri still uses an FTP server to allow people to download sample footage from their AMIRA and ALEXA cameras.

arri ftp download — FTP can still be useful, like ARRI’s sample footage download site, but it’s slow and tedious.

And FTP was great for a long time. But it was also very slow.

So about ten years ago, tools like IBM Aspera and Signiant Media Shuttle came into play. They were significantly faster than FTP and far more secure. But they also require a decent budget and, usually, an IT team to support them.

media shuttle transfer — Older transfer solutions like Media Shuttle are pricey and often require dedicated IT configuration.

Get things moving

If you just want to get things moving, and worry about IP addresses later, there’s Frame.io Transfer.

Frame.io Transfer is a brand new application for MacOS and Windows that makes it super-simple to upload and download your media from Frame.io. It allows you to keep your folder structures intact, gives you control over the speed of your file transfers, and makes use of the Frame.io Acceleration Engine.

frame io transfer raw — Frame.io Transfer preserves your project and folder structure, and speeds up your post-production workflow.

Whenever you upload footage to Frame.io, we generate proxies in the background, and with Frame.io Transfer, you can download these proxies in Batch, within their folder structures. And if you’re just doing an offline edit, you can just edit straight from these proxies.

However, if you’re doing an online edit, and you don’t want to have to download every single file in full resolution, you can designate an XML, EDL, or FCPXML file, and download just the files from that list. This will save you tons of time in the download.

frame io transfer xml — Specifying an EDL, XML, or FCPXML file lets you download only the files you need.

Upload/download

To upload footage using Frame.io Transfer, simply select the project and folder that you want to upload to, and then select the file, group of files, or folder that you want to upload from your local machine. Then hit Upload.

To download footage, select the project, folder, file, or group of files that you want, and hit Download. This will give you the option to download the Original files, highest resolution proxy, or lowest resolution proxy.

frame io transfer proxies — You can choose to download the originals, or proxy files generated automatically by Frame.io.

Whether you’re uploading or downloading, it’ll generate a Frame.io Transfer batch, and these can be checked in the Transfer Inspector. You can also reprioritize batches on the Transfer page, as well as viewing the speed of all of your transfers, in aggregate or individually.

Keeping it structured

Using Frame.io Transfer, your team members will be able to access your entire Frame.io project and folder structure.

And if you want to send files to people outside of your organization you can send them a Share link so they can download those files through Transfer.

invite only frame io transfer — Sending an *Invite only* share link from Frame.io Transfer is a fast and secure way to get footage to your team members while remote.

If you send them a Public link, they’ll be able to download without even having to log in. Or, if you prefer something more secure, you can send them an Invite Only link.

Keeping it secure

To keep your data safe, Frame.io Transfer uses xxHash checksumming. So if the checksum on the source or destination doesn’t match up, then Transfer will retry that transfer.

frame io transfer checksum — Frame.io Transfer uses xxHash-64 to ensure your files make the journey in one piece.

In fact, if there’s any interruption to your transfer, Frame.io Transfer will continue to retry that particular file for up to 24 hours.

Summing up

Frame.io Transfer is an extremely reliable way to upload and download vast quantities of footage to and from Frame.io. So no more accidental browser tab closures.

frame io included — Frame.io Transfer is included as part of the Frame.io collaboration and media workflow platform.

And you get all of Frame.io with it, from the review and approval tools to the excellent integrations with your favorite editing software. And footage archiving at the touch of a button.

Tell us about your workflow

We’ve learned so much about remote workflows this year, and Frame.io Transfer is a big part of that. Now, more than ever, video teams need a fast, secure, and flexible tool to move creative assets through the workflow.

And that’s why we want to hear from you. If Frame.io Transfer has helped your team adjust to our new remote workflow reality, let us know in the comments below. We love to hear from creative professionals doing awesome work.