Private video hosting that behaves the way private should

Give every video its own privacy rules on Vimeo: password protection, domain-restricted embeds, single sign-on, DRM, and account-restricted access. Vimeo offers five privacy modes, from public down to fully private, and encrypts every upload at rest with AES-256.
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"Private" on a free video hosting site does not mean private

  • Unlisted is one shared link from public

    On most free video hosting sites, an unlisted video is only hidden from search. Anyone who receives the URL can watch, forward, and embed it. Unlisted is not the same as private video hosting, and treating it that way is how sensitive content ends up in the wild.

  • Platform search may still surface "private"

    Some platforms treat private as a display flag while still surfacing the video in internal search or team feeds. Signed-in coworkers or fellow platform users can stumble onto content that was meant to be restricted.

  • Your video may be training someone's model

    Many free video hosting platforms use uploaded content to train AI models by default, with the opt-out buried in settings. For confidential internal video, HR investigation footage, or unreleased marketing cuts, that policy alone rules the platform out.

Private on a consumer platform tends to mean hidden, not restricted. Free video hosting sites often treat private as a soft flag that a signed-in user can bypass, some still index the video in their own internal search, and many use uploaded video to train AI models with limited transparency. For sales enablement content, internal all-hands recordings, client review cuts, or paid premium video, the gap between private as a checkbox and private in practice is where leaks happen.

Five privacy modes with AES-256 encryption and instant access revocation

Every Vimeo upload gets a privacy mode: public, unlisted, password-protected, hide from Vimeo, or fully private. Fully private restricts playback to Vimeo accounts you invite. Uploads are encrypted at rest with AES-256, playback runs over HTTPS with TLS, and the ad-free player carries no watermark. Revoke a viewer and access ends immediately, even on embeds that were already loaded.
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Five privacy modes to pick from

Public, unlisted, password-protected, hide from Vimeo, or fully private. Each video gets its own rule, and folders can enforce a default so future uploads inherit it.

Account-restricted private mode

Fully private videos only play for the Vimeo accounts you invite. Anyone else with the URL sees nothing. Private content never appears in Vimeo search results.

AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit

Vimeo encrypts every stored video file with AES-256 and delivers playback over HTTPS with TLS. Nothing about the file crosses the network in the clear.

Your video does not train any AI model

Vimeo does not train AI models on your uploads. Public videos are not used. Private, unlisted, and password-protected content is never used. Your footage stays yours.

Layered controls: domain locks, SAML SSO, and DRM

Privacy modes stack with domain restrictions, DRM, and identity-based access. Pin the embed to approved domains, turn off downloads to keep the source file in Vimeo, or enable DRM to block screen recording. On Enterprise, tie access to SAML SSO with Okta or Azure AD and let SCIM handle joiner and leaver provisioning across every private video at once.
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Domain-locked embeds

Pin the player to a whitelist of domains. If someone copies the embed code onto an unauthorized site, playback fails silently.

SAML SSO with SCIM provisioning

Enterprise plans support SAML SSO with Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, and other identity providers. SCIM automates provisioning, so when someone leaves, one deprovisioning event revokes their access to every private video.

DRM plus download blocking

Optional DRM guards against unauthorized downloads and screen recording. On any paid plan, download can also be disabled entirely so the source file never leaves Vimeo.

Folder-level inheritance

Set a privacy rule on a folder and every new upload inherits it. Admins get one place to enforce policy instead of chasing settings on individual videos.

Trusted by marketers, businesses, and video pros around the globe

  • 100+ billion

    video views (and counting)

  • 7+ million

    videos uploaded every month

  • 4+ billion

    minutes streamed each month

Why real private video hosting pays for itself in revenue, compliance, and risk

Real private video hosting has to hold up when someone tries to leak content, when a regulator asks how access is controlled, or when a paying customer expects premium video to stay behind the paywall. Vimeo is SOC 2 audited, ISO 27001 compliant, HIPAA-capable, and GDPR-aligned. Access ties to your identity provider, embeds lock to approved domains, and audit logs sit behind every video.

  • Premium content stays where you sold it

    Password protection, domain-locked embeds, and DRM keep paid or licensed video out of the public feed. Buyers get access, non-buyers do not.

  • Audit-ready access controls

    AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit, and per-video access logs stand up to SOC 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 reviews without after-the-fact retrofits.

  • SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA-capable, GDPR-aligned

    Vimeo Enterprise is SOC 2 audited, ISO 27001 compliant, HIPAA-capable, and aligned with GDPR. Compliance commitments are in the platform, not layered on with third parties.

  • EU data residency and geo-blocking

    Store video data in the EU to meet regional data protection requirements, and restrict playback by country when licensing rules or export controls demand it.

  • Instant access revocation

    Remove a viewer or revoke a share link and access ends across every device immediately, including embeds that were already open in a browser tab.

  • Workspace defaults for privacy

    Set the default privacy for new uploads across the entire workspace, so no one accidentally publishes a confidential video as public.

  • Role-based team permissions

    Viewers, contributors, editors, and admins get distinct access levels. Reviewer seats can comment on cuts without touching privacy settings.

  • Access logs and privacy reports

    See at a glance which videos are public, unlisted, password-protected, hidden from Vimeo, or fully private. Access logs record who watched which video and when.

  • Stable URLs across replacements

    Replace a private video with an updated cut and the URL keeps working. Privacy mode, domain rules, and DRM settings carry over to the new version automatically.

How to set up private video hosting on Vimeo

Vimeo's private video hosting runs from the video or folder settings. Set the privacy mode, decide what viewers can and cannot do with the file, layer in domain restrictions or DRM, and on Enterprise wire in SAML single sign-on. Apply the same rules at the folder level and future uploads inherit them automatically.

  1. Step 1

    Sign in to Vimeo and open the video or folder you want to make private. Every video has its own Settings, and folders have their own privacy defaults.

  2. Step 2

    Click Settings and go to Privacy. Choose from five modes: unlisted (link-only), password-protected (shared password), hide from Vimeo (no Vimeo page, embeds live), or fully private (account-restricted).

  3. Step 3

    For fully private mode, invite the specific Vimeo accounts that should be able to watch. Nobody else can play the video, even with the URL.

  4. Step 4

    Add a domain whitelist so the player only loads on your approved sites. Turn off download to keep the source file inside Vimeo.

  5. Step 5

    On Enterprise plans, enable DRM to block screen recording and require SAML SSO so identity-based access ties to Okta, Azure AD, or your SAML identity provider.
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Find the right plan for you

    Vimeo offers discounts to US-based non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Learn more.

    For more information on feature availability, please reference our pricing page.

    Frequently asked questions about private video hosting

    Unlisted videos are hidden from public search and your Vimeo profile, but anyone with the URL can play them. Fully private videos restrict playback to Vimeo accounts you invite; no one else can watch, even if they have the URL. For confidential content, the standard configuration is fully private mode plus a domain whitelist and disabled downloads.

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