Getting your project files back

A year after the videos were made, something changes. A number on screen, a date, a member of staff who has left, a logo, a claim you are no longer allowed to make. All you need is thirty seconds swapped out of a video that is otherwise fine.

So you go back to whoever made it. Either they still have it and it takes an afternoon, or they do not, or they have moved on, or they have it in a form only they can open, and it is cheaper to film the whole thing again.

Ask for a package, not a file, and ask at the start: the six items are listed below, and one line in the brief is what secures them.

This is the least discussed part of paying for video and one of the more expensive ones.

Why does the file question come too late?

Because the finished video looks like the whole deliverable, and for the first few months it is.

The finished video can meet the immediate brief while leaving a separate question about future editing. Ask the supplier which assets and editable files are included, and have the answer recorded in the scope.

Then time passes and the video becomes an asset rather than a post. Assets get edited. The moment you want to edit one is the moment you find out what you own, and it is frequently also a moment when a relationship has cooled, which is precisely the wrong time to be asking a favour.

What is a project file, and why is it not enough on its own?

A project file is not a video. It is a list of instructions: use this clip from here to here, put that graphic on top, apply these settings, fade the music down at this point.

Which means it is useless without the things it is pointing at. Hand somebody a project file alone and they will open a timeline full of red rectangles saying media offline. It knows what should be in each slot and has nothing to put there.

This is why can I have the project file is the wrong question, asked in good faith, and why it so often produces a technically honest yes that turns out to be worth nothing.

What should you ask for?

If independent editing matters, ask for a defined package. These six categories help establish what is needed, what can be transferred and what it will cost.

1. The editable project and software version, plus a checked exchange format where useful; some effects may not transfer. 2. The media needed to relink it, with folder structure and any missing or restricted assets identified. 3. Font names and licence records, with font files only where transfer is allowed. 4. Layered graphics if you need to change their wording or elements; rendered overlays are reusable but are not the same thing. 5. Music and its licence records, with the permitted uses and any limits on transfer made clear. 6. Finished exports and a text-free master, so new captions or overlays can be added without removing existing text.

Then one thing that is not an item: a folder structure a stranger can read. Names that describe contents, dates in a consistent order, no folder called final final. Everything above is worth considerably less if finding it requires the person who made it.

Editable means different things

This is where politely worded requests fall apart.

To one supplier, editable means the layered file with every element still separate. To another it means an export with a transparent background, which is a picture that cannot be changed. Both will say yes to the same question, and you will not find out which one you got until somebody tries to change the wording.

Ask what a new editor can change: title wording, graphic colours, a logo, music or a shot in the sequence. Ask which software, licences and linked files they would need. Those answers define the package more clearly than the word editable alone.

When should you ask?

Ideally before the first invoice, as part of the scope. If the need appears later, agree the additional work, rights and fee before the handover.

At the start it is a scoping conversation between two reasonable people. At the end it is a request for extra work from somebody who has already been paid, which turns a process question into a negotiation and sometimes into a grievance.

Preparing a handover takes work: gathering assets, documenting dependencies and checking that the project opens. Agreeing it early makes the scope clearer; a later request can still be quoted and completed where the files and rights allow.

At BUBI, the agreed finished exports and text-free masters, footage we shot and rendered graphic assets are delivered to you. Licence records accompany licensed material; font files are included where the licence permits. Brand notes and other agreed documentation remain yours. The scope records the permitted uses, because possession of a file and the rights to use it are separate questions.

Editable timelines and layered graphics are supplied under separate written terms and a fee, agreed at the outset or later. Without them, another editor can reuse the delivered footage, masters and rendered overlays, but may have to rebuild parts of the edit. A rendered title can be placed and moved; changing its wording needs new artwork or the editable original.

For a course or another product expected to need repeated updates, we recommend discussing editable handover early. It can also be useful for other work; the decision depends on the changes you expect to make and the cost of preparing the package. Video footage, masters and working projects are retained for one year after delivery. Brand strategy, research and SOP records are retained for one year after the partnership ends. Retention does not make every retained file an included deliverable.

What if you edit your own videos?

Then you are the supplier, and every word above applies to you with nobody to ask.

Run the six-item check on your own last project. Move the folder somewhere else and open it there. What goes red is what you would have lost had the drive failed. Save the fonts beside the project, keep each licence with the video it belongs to, and name the folder for what is in it.

None of that is for a future supplier. It is for you in a year, who will have forgotten all of it and will be, for practical purposes, a stranger to your own timeline.

Ask whether another editor could continue from the assets you will receive, and what they would have to rebuild. Put the agreed answer into the scope alongside the retention period and handover fee.

Sources and evidence

What is established. UK Intellectual Property Office guidance on ownership of commissioned works states that a freelancer working under a contract for services usually retains copyright in what they produce unless a written agreement assigns it elsewhere, so a client does not automatically own the material just because they paid for it. Separate UK government guidance on using music online states that using copyright music online or on mobile technology generally requires a licence from the relevant rights body, and PRS for Music's own description of commercial synchronisation licensing frames that licence as tied to a specific use rather than a blanket permission. Together these establish why "who owns the file" and "what the music licence actually covers" are two different questions that need answering separately, and why an agreement should say so in writing rather than assuming a default that favours the client. None of this is legal advice, and the exact rights in any one case depend on the agreement in place and the specific repertoire or footage involved.

Our method. Standard delivery includes the agreed finished work, reusable delivered assets and documentation. Editable timelines and layered graphics require separate written terms and a fee. We recommend planning that handover early where future updates matter, and state retention separately from ownership and delivery rights.

References.

• UK Intellectual Property Office. Ownership of copyright works. gov.uk. A contractor usually retains copyright absent contractual assignment. General guidance, not legal advice.
• Intellectual Property Office (gov.uk). Intellectual property and your work (overview). gov.uk. Plain-English overview: you own IP you create (employee vs self-employed distinction); IP can be transferred and co-owned. Not the detailed first-ownership rules (Ownership of copyright works page); nothing on music sync or file handover.