Uploading and processing videos

Uploading puts a video file into your ESTAGE Video library. ESTAGE then processes it — turns it into several streaming quality levels — so it plays smoothly on any connection. You can watch and share the video before processing is fully done.

Uploads start from Add Video → Upload Video in the top bar, or from Upload video on an empty folder.

Uploading a video

1. Open the folder you want the video in (or stay in All videos).
2. Click Add Video → Upload Video.
3. Drag files onto the Upload Video window, or click Select Files. You can pick several at once.
4. The window closes and an Uploads card in the bottom-right corner shows each file’s progress. Collapse it with the arrow; clear finished items with ×.

You can also drop video files anywhere on the library page — a Drop to upload overlay appears and the files go into the folder you’re looking at.

Accepted
Formats	MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI, MPEG, WMV
Size	Up to 8 GB per file

The new video takes the file name as its title. Rename it from the card menu or on its settings page. New videos start as Public.

Note

Keep the browser tab open until the Uploads card shows the file as done. Large files are sent in pieces, and a dropped connection retries by itself.

What happens during processing

Once a file is uploaded, its card shows the processing stage, a progress bar and — when ESTAGE can estimate it — the time left (for example ~12 min left). The grid refreshes by itself.

The stages you’ll see, in order:

Stage	What’s happening
Queued… / Preparing the upload…	Waiting for its turn, then getting the file ready
Analyzing video…	Reading the file’s size, length and format
Encoding preview (720p)… / Uploading preview…	Building the first quality level
Generating thumbnails…	Making the thumbnail and timeline frames
Encoding HD qualities… / Uploading HD qualities…	Building the remaining quality levels
Processing HDR…	Only for HDR source files
Building MP4 fallback…	Making a downloadable MP4 copy
Adding captions…	Picking up a caption track embedded in the file, if there is one
Finalizing…	Last checks

The video becomes playable after the 720p preview is ready. From then on the card shows the thumbnail with a thin progress strip, and you can open the video and play it while the higher qualities are still being built.

Which quality levels you get

Every video gets 240p, 360p, 480p and 720p. Higher levels are added only when the source file has them: 1080p for Full HD sources, 1440p for 2K and 2160p for 4K. HDR sources also get an HDR 1080p version. The player switches between levels automatically, and viewers can pick one in the player’s Quality menu.

When a video gets stuck or fails

If processing fails, the card says Transcoding failed. If it hasn’t started after 10 minutes, it says Still processing — it may be stuck. In both cases:

1. Click Retry transcoding on the card (or on the video’s page).
2. The video goes back into processing. This can take a few minutes.

If retrying reports that the source file is missing, upload the file again.

Storage

The Storage gauge at the bottom of the sidebar shows how much of your library’s space you’re using.

Account	Storage
Accounts with ESTAGE Community Plus or the Business Plus plan	Unlimited
All other accounts	1 TB

When the library is full, new uploads are refused. Delete videos you no longer need to free up space, or upgrade for unlimited hosting.

Things worth knowing

• Storage belongs to the library owner. In a team workspace, uploads count against the owner’s storage. See Teams and shared folders.
• A folder shared with you as Viewer takes no uploads. Add Video is hidden there, and dropping a file shows You can only view this folder.
• Processing videos can’t be selected for bulk actions until they’re done.
• Uploading from Genesis (Media → Videos, or dropping a file into the chat) puts the video into this same library.