How to play video and audio files in Dropbox

Updated Oct 10, 2023

How to play video or audio files

To play a video or audio file you’ve stored in your Dropbox account:

Log in to dropbox.com.
Click All files in the left sidebar.
- You can also click Folders in the left navigation bar to locate your file.
Click the name of an audio or video file to view a preview. Learn more about how to preview files.
- To preview an audio or video file in a specific language, click✗(settings)at the bottom right of the preview page. Then, click Audio track and select the language you’d like.
  - Note: This option is only available for files that have multiple audio tracks.
Click the preview to play it.

You can take the following actions while previewing your video:

Play the video by clicking ☑ (play).
Change the playback speed by clicking 1.0x in the lower left corner and choosing a playback speed.
Skip forward or backward by 10 seconds by clicking ☑ (forward ten seconds) or ☑ (back ten seconds) to the right of ☑ (play).
Adjust the volume by clicking the speaker icon.
Change the quality of the video by clicking Auto, 360p, 480p, 720p or 1080p in the lower right corner.
Generate or turn off captions for your file by clicking ☑ (closed captions) in the lower right corner.
View the video in fullscreen by tapping ☑ (fullscreen) in the lower right corner.
Trim, crop, rotate, flip, or transcribe your video by using the corresponding button at the top of the screen. Some teams may also be able to use Dropbox Dash with videos by clicking Ask Dash.
- If you’re using quick view, you’ll need to click ✗ (more options) to access Transcribe.

Open the Dropbox mobile app.
Tap the name of an audio or video file to view a preview. Learn more about how to preview files.
Tap the preview to play it.
- Scrub backward and forward by dragging the playhead along the timeline.
- Skip forward or backward by 15 seconds by tapping (forward 15 seconds) or (back 15 seconds). You can also double-tap the right or left side of the screen to skip forward or backward by 15 seconds.
- Change the playback speed by tapping (settings) in the lower left corner and choosing a playback speed. You can also tap and hold anywhere on the screen to watch at 2X speed.
- Change the playback quality by tapping (settings) in the lower left corner, tapping Quality, then choosing a playback quality.
- Put the video on repeat by tapping (repeat) in the lower right corner.

If you’re watching a video on iOS, you can also:

View the video in fullscreen by tapping the fullscreen icon (rectangle with two arrows) in the top right corner.
Minimize the video while you use other apps by tapping the picture-in-picture icon (two rectangles) in the top-right corner.
Cast your video to AirPlay by tapping the cast icon (rectangle with an up arrow) in the top-right corner.

Note: Your iOS device must be on the same network as the device you’d like to cast to.

To choose a thumbnail for a video you’ve uploaded to Dropbox:

Log in to dropbox.com.
Click All files in the left sidebar.
Find and open the video you want to update.
Drag the playhead to the frame you want to use as your thumbnail.
Click the Set this frame as thumbnail icon (image with an arrow pointing upwards) in the lower right corner.

The thumbnail will update anywhere the video appears, including shared links.

Related resources

How to edit and trim video

Was this article helpful?

Yes, thanks!

Not really

Thanks for your feedback!