How long should a videographer keep your event footage?

Retention is a term you agree with your videographer. Settle what is kept, for how long, where it is stored, who can open it and how deletion is requested and confirmed, then write the answers into the booking.

This is easiest to settle before the booking is confirmed, while you are still comparing options and the scope is open. After the event, details agreed earlier are easy to forget.

What does a videographer usually hold?

Different files have different purposes. Settle each one.

How do you decide how long to keep it?

It depends on what you might still need.

• You may want changes later, such as a shorter cut, captions or a new version. Keep project files for a period that suits you.
• You may need an archive, such as a school or community record. Plan to hold the files yourself.
• Privacy matters, as at a sensitive or confidential event. Ask for earlier deletion and a clear process.
• A rule may apply to you, such as a company policy or a client contract. Ask your legal, privacy or HR contact.

A request to remove or revise a published video is one reason to keep source files for a time, since a revised version needs them.

What should the agreement say?

Write it in plain words:

1. What is kept: raw files, project files, delivered films and backups.
2. For how long: a period you choose, or until you ask.
3. Where: which drive, system or cloud tool, and in which country if that matters to you.
4. Who can access it: the crew, the editor and no one else.
5. How deletion is requested: by whom, in writing, and to whom.
6. How deletion is confirmed: a written note that files and backups were removed.

Here is an illustrative example. A company annual dinner is delivered, and the company holds the raw files and finished films on its own storage. The videographer keeps project files for a period the company chooses, in case it wants a shorter cut. After that, the project files are deleted and the deletion is confirmed by email.

What should you check before asking for deletion?

Deletion cannot be undone, so before you request it:

• Check you hold every file you want, including raw files if they were in scope.
• Check the films play correctly and match what you ordered.
• Check whether anyone may still need a revision.
• Use the archive and handover planner to list what you keep and where.

What we confirm for your event

• What is kept after delivery, and for how long.
• Where the files are stored and who can open them.
• How you request deletion, and how we confirm it in writing, backups included.
• A shorter retention period if your event is private or sensitive.

Related decisions sit in access to footage by external editors or cloud tools and video ownership, usage rights and raw-file delivery. Our event videography service page explains how scope and delivery are agreed.

For a legal question about retention, ask a qualified adviser.