Importing your Vimeo library
If your videos are on Vimeo, you can import them directly into Long Play without downloading anything to your computer first. The importer connects to your Vimeo account using a token you generate, lists your library, and streams the files straight to Long Play's storage in the background.
Vimeo plan requirement: You need a Vimeo Pro plan or above to use the importer. Free, Plus, and Basic accounts do not have API download access - Vimeo restricts this to Pro and higher. If you are on Free, Plus, or Basic, use the manual method instead (see below).
Before doing anything: Check whether you still have the original video files on your computer or a hard drive. If you do, upload those directly to Long Play - they will always be better quality than anything re-encoded by Vimeo. The importer is most useful when the originals are gone and Vimeo is the only copy.
Manual alternative: If you are on Vimeo Free, Plus, or Basic, download your videos directly from Vimeo (find the video in your library → three-dot menu → Download → choose Original if available) and upload them to Long Play the normal way via /me/upload. See Downloading your videos from Vimeo for step-by-step instructions. The result is identical to an import - Long Play stores your file and encodes from it regardless of how it arrived.
Step 1 - Generate a Vimeo Personal Access Token
A Personal Access Token lets Long Play read your Vimeo library on your behalf. You generate it yourself in your Vimeo account; Long Play never sees your Vimeo password.
1. Go to developer.vimeo.com and sign in with your Vimeo account. 2. Select your app from the dashboard. If you do not have one, create a new app - the name and description do not matter. 3. Scroll down to the Authentication section. 4. Make sure Authenticated (you) is selected (not "Unauthenticated"). 5. Under Scopes, tick the following: - Public (required - pre-ticked by default) - Private (recommended - lets you import private videos) - Video Files (required - enables file download access) 6. Click Generate. 7. Copy the token that appears. It is shown only once - paste it somewhere safe if you plan to use it again.
You do not need to do anything with the Client Identifier, Client Secret, or the OAuth redirect section. Those are for different authentication flows and are not used by the importer.
Step 2 - Connect your Vimeo account
Go to your upload page and click Import your Vimeo library, or go directly to /me/import/vimeo.
Paste your Personal Access Token into the field and click Connect. Long Play will verify the token and load your video library.
Step 3 - Select your videos
Your Vimeo library appears as a list. Tick the checkboxes next to the videos you want to import, then click Import selected.
Step 4 - Import runs in the background
Once queued, the import runs in the background - you do not need to stay on the page. Each video is downloaded directly from Vimeo's servers to Long Play's storage; nothing passes through your computer or browser.
You can return to /me/import/vimeo at any time to check progress. The queue shows each job's current status:
- Pending - waiting to start
- Running - actively downloading and storing
- Done - import complete; the video is in your library and encoding will begin
- Failed - something went wrong; the error message explains what happened
Once a video reaches Done status, it appears in your library like any other upload and goes through the normal encoding process.
After import
Imported videos start private with no title or description filled in (other than the title carried over from Vimeo). Go to each video's edit page to add details, set your privacy level, and publish when ready.
If you are importing a large library, queue a batch of videos at a time rather than all at once. Imports run one or two at a time to keep things stable.
File size limits
The same upload size limits that apply to direct uploads also apply to imports:
- Long Play Free plan: 18 GB per file
- Long Play Creator plan: 45 GB per file
- Long Play Pro plan: 70 GB per file
If a Vimeo video's source file exceeds your Long Play plan's limit, you will need to select a lower quality option or upgrade to Creator or Pro.
Troubleshooting
"Invalid token" - the token was copied incorrectly, or the required scopes (Public, Video Files) were not ticked when it was generated. Generate a new token with the correct scopes.
"Could not fetch your Vimeo library" - a temporary connection issue. Wait a moment and try connecting again.
Import fails with an error - the download link from Vimeo may have expired (they are time-limited). Click the failed job's cancel button, return to the connect step, and re-queue the video. A fresh download link will be fetched at job start.
Import fails with "downloads may be disabled" - your Vimeo account is on Free, Plus, or Basic. These plans do not allow file downloads via the API. Upgrade to Pro or use the manual download method described at the top of this article.
No videos appear - your Vimeo account may not have any videos, or the token may lack the Private scope (needed to see private videos). Generate a new token with Private ticked.
You're on Vimeo Pro or above and it still doesn't work - this shouldn't happen, but if it does, contact us with the failed job's error message and we'll sort it out.