Uploading files

You upload files in Files: click New, choose Upload files and select your files, or drag them straight into the window. You can upload up to 20 files at a time, each one up to 1 GB.

Uploading

  1. Go to Files in the sidebar.
  2. Click New and choose Upload files. Dragging works too: drop the files anywhere on the page.
  3. Check the list in the uploader. Click a name to rename that file, or use the cross to take it off the list.
  4. Click Upload.

The files then show up in the folder you are in at that moment.

Which files you can upload

Images: JPG and JPEG (including JFIF), PNG, GIF, BMP, and WebP. A HEIC photo from an iPhone is converted to JPEG automatically during upload.

Video: MP4 and M4V, MOV, MKV, WebM, 3GP and 3G2.

Audio: MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, and Opus.

Document: PDF and Excel (XLSX and XLS). During upload a PDF is converted page by page into images, so any screen can show it. An Excel file is converted into one or more page images per worksheet. That is a snapshot: if the numbers change, upload the file again. For numbers that refresh on their own, use the Excel Online or Google Sheets app.

A few common file types can't be uploaded:

  • SVG. You can still use an SVG as a logo on the Brand settings tab and as an element in the Designer.
  • AVI, WMV, and FLV.
  • PowerPoint and Word files. Use the matching app for those instead, which also keeps the document up to date on its own, or export it as a PDF first. See Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Which video codec you need

With video, the extension tells only half the story; what counts is the codec, the way the picture is stored inside the file. Two files that both end in .mov can hold completely different codecs, and not every codec plays back on a screen.

Supported are H.264, H.265 (HEVC), VP8, VP9, and AV1.

Not supported, not even when they sit inside an MP4 or MOV:

  • Apple ProRes
  • QuickTime Animation (RLE)
  • Motion JPEG
  • MPEG-4 Part 2

Screenbird reads the codec from the file itself during upload. If it is not supported, you see right away which codec was found and the file is not uploaded. Export again as MP4 with H.264: that combination plays on every type of screen.

Limits on size and resolution

  • Up to 20 files at a time.
  • Up to 1 GB per file.
  • Video up to 3840x2160 (4K), landscape or portrait (2160x3840). A wider video, such as 4096x2160 (cinema 4K), is rejected: many players, such as sticks and TVs, cannot play it with their video chip, so the picture stutters or the player freezes.
  • Exception for strips: a video that is at least four times as wide as it is tall, such as an 8704x192 LED banner, may be wider, as long as it has no more pixels in total than 3840x2160. A strip like that plays well on a PC player, not on a stick or TV.
  • Video up to a bitrate of 150 Mbit/s.
  • Images above 4K (more than 3840x2160 pixels in total) give a warning: not all hardware handles that smoothly. You can still upload them.
  • Images above 59 megapixels, or wider or taller than 12,000 pixels, are rejected.

Export video as MP4 with H.264 at 1920x1080, or 3840x2160 for a 4K screen. A bitrate of 10 to 20 Mbit/s is plenty. For images, stick to 1920x1080 (Full HD), or to the resolution of the screen they are going on. See Content resolution.

Replacing a file

If you have a new version of a file, for example a video you exported again, you replace the file without taking it out of your playlists.

  1. In Files, right-click the file, or click the three dots.
  2. Choose Replace file and select the new file.
  3. Click Replace.

The file keeps its name, folder, permissions and validity, and stays in the same place in playlists, schedules, designs and screens. Screens fetch the new version automatically. If you want a different name, use Rename.

  • You can replace an image with an image or a video, and a video with a video or an image. If the file is used in a design, in an app or as the background of a screen, you can only replace it with the same kind of file.
  • You replace a PDF with a PDF, and audio with audio.
  • If a video is in a playlist with its own length as its duration, it takes on the length of the new video. A duration you set yourself stays as it is.
  • The same limits as for uploading apply to the new file.

Storage

Every screen in your subscription comes with 10 GB of storage. If you need more, buy extra storage under Settings > Subscription. See Manage your subscription.

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