Our users told us Vimeo was too slow.
So we mapped every slow moment in the product—from opening the home page to uploading a video—scored each one by how many users it impacted, then started fixing them in order.
Here’s what we’ve done so far.
What you see now loads first
Previously, Vimeo loaded everything on a page at once—regardless of how important it was. This could mean the videos you expected to see were queuing behind background elements, most of which weren't even visible.
But now, the content you can actually see loads first. Background processes run after.
As a result, your homepage now loads up to 41% faster. Manage video pages now load up to 39% faster.*
Smaller files upload first
Previously, video uploads processed one at a time, depending on the order you uploaded them in. So 10 short clips could easily get stuck behind one hour-long video.
So we rebuilt the upload flow to run in parallel. Your videos appear as soon as they're ready, so you can start editing straight away.
Parallel uploads have cut up to a quarter off total upload time.*
Search prioritizes what you actually need
For users with large libraries, search was becoming critically slow.
This was because every single search was looking through your full video database, with hundreds (or thousands) of videos.
So we rebuilt the search to get results from a smaller, faster database.
With less irrelevant data to comb through through per query, you get better results on screen, faster.
A total rework behind the scenes
As well as the changes above, we also released a long list of performance improvements, from infrastructure upgrades to deep architectural changes.
We won’t go into the technical details here, but they contributed just as much to the results you’re seeing.
How much faster is Vimeo?
- 41% faster homepage load*
- 39% faster manage video pages*
- 23% faster library search*
- 25% faster uploads*
While our primary was focus was on these high-traffic pages, our latest performance update delivered a noticeable speed boost to every page in Vimeo.
And these are only early results. Over the next few months, we’re continuing to speed up pages all through the product.
What else we’re working on
Speeding up Vimeo is just one of many improvements we’re bringing you. In just the last 3 months, we’ve released:
- A new, simplified Vimeo Review: 7 improvements to video feedback: accountless review links, timestamps on every comment, fewer clicks to set up, and more.
- A rebuilt profile page—with a complete redesign of how your work looks to visitors.
- New engagement analytics, bulk translation in 99 languages and more—watch everything we released in Q1 here.
Our goal is simple: to make Vimeo a more valuable platform for you. You can follow everything we’re doing at vimeo.com/product-updates.
Will from Vimeo
*Performance improvements are based on internal testing. Results may vary depending on device, network conditions, browser, library size, file type, and account configuration. Figures represent the maximum improvement observed and are not guaranteed for all users or use cases. All metrics are subject to change as the product evolves.
