How to Migrate Your Video Library to SproutVideo

Switching video hosts doesn’t mean downloading and re-uploading every video yourself. Our Customer Success team can import your library directly from Vimeo or Wistia into your SproutVideo account, and we’re happy to help you plan a move from other platforms, too.

This article covers which platforms we import from, what comes over with your videos, and the steps to follow so your viewers never notice the switch.

Platforms We Import From

Importing is free on every plan. Our team can import your video library directly from:

Vimeo
Wistia

Moving from a different platform, or prefer another route? You can also import from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or Box, upload videos directly, or automate the move with Zapier, Make, an AI assistant, or our API. See Other Ways to Move Your Videos for details on each option.

You can also contact us to inquire about other platforms. We may be able to import from some platforms that aren’t listed in this article.

What We Import

When we import from Vimeo or Wistia, we bring over:

Your video files, at the highest quality your old account makes available (usually the original source file)
Titles and descriptions
Folders and subfolders, including Wistia projects and sections
Thumbnails, which become each video’s poster frame
Captions and subtitles
Original upload dates
Tags (Vimeo only)

What Doesn’t Transfer

Some things are tied to your old platform and can’t be imported:

Analytics and engagement data. View counts and engagement history stay with your old account, so export anything you want to keep before you cancel. Your SproutVideo analytics start with the first play on your new player.
Privacy settings. Imported videos use your account’s default privacy setting (see Step 3).
Player customizations, calls to action, and lead capture forms. You can set these up in SproutVideo once your videos arrive (see Step 5).
Embed codes and links. You’ll replace these with your new SproutVideo embed codes (see Step 6).

How to Migrate Your Videos

Step 1: Set Up Your SproutVideo Account

You’ll need a SproutVideo account to import into. If you don’t have one yet, you can start a free trial or choose a plan, but note that the free trial only includes 5 GB of storage. If your library is larger than that, let us know when you reach out and we’ll help you figure out the best next step.

Storage and bandwidth may not map one-to-one between platforms, because each host stores and serves files differently. You can estimate your storage and bandwidth needs yourself, or send us your video count, average length, average resolution, and an average number of monthly plays so we can help estimate your needs for you.

Step 2: Contact Our Team

Contact us and let us know which platform you’re moving from and roughly how many videos you have. We’ll send you instructions for creating an access token in your Vimeo or Wistia account, which lets us copy your library without needing your password.

Important: You must keep your old account active until the migration is complete. We import directly from it, and your existing embeds will stop playing once it’s closed.

Step 3: Choose Your Default Settings

Before the import begins, review your account-wide video settings in your SproutVideo account. Imported videos use your default privacy settings, so set them to match how you’d like most of your videos shared. If you’re not sure which to choose, see our overview of video privacy settings.

Setting your default privacy before the import saves you from updating videos one by one afterward. If a few need a different setting later, you can change privacy for multiple videos at once.

Step 4: We Import Your Library

Once we have access, our team starts the import and will let you know as soon as it’s done. How long it takes depends on the total size of your files more than the number of videos. A small library can be ready in a few hours, while a large one may take several days. Videos are processed as they arrive, so you can start reviewing them before the whole library is imported.

When your import is complete, we’ll send you a spreadsheet of your imported videos. Keep it handy as a checklist for the rest of the steps below.

Step 5: Review Your Videos

Look through your imported videos to confirm that titles, folders, captions, and poster frames came over as expected. This is also a good time to set up anything that didn’t transfer, such as:

Player options like colors, controls, and autoplay
Password protection or login protection
Calls to action and lead capture
Allowed domains for your embed codes

Step 6: Replace Your Embed Codes and Links

Your existing embeds keep working as long as your old account is active, so your viewers won’t see any downtime. Go through each page, email, or document where your videos appear and replace the old embed code or link with the new one from SproutVideo. See How to Embed a Video or Live Stream and How to Share Your Videos for details.

The spreadsheet from your import is a good place to track your progress. Note where each video is embedded so nothing gets missed, since any embed you don’t replace will stop playing once your old account closes.

Step 7: Update Your Video SEO

If your videos are embedded on pages you own, those page URLs don’t change, so most of your SEO carries over once the embeds are replaced. To finish up, update your video sitemap and any video schema on your pages to point to your SproutVideo videos. Our complete guide to video SEO has more details.

Step 8: Test Everything Before Closing Your Old Account

Before you cancel, visit your live pages and make sure each video plays, shows its captions, and has the right privacy settings. Viewing them in a private browser window shows you what your viewers will see. Remember to export any analytics you want to keep from your old platform, too.

Once everything checks out, you can cancel your old account.