Help Center / Vimeo Guidelines
A practical and ethical guide to using Vimeo (and attaining enlightenment).
Community Guidelines
Be cool and play nice.
The Internet is a pretty cool place, but it also gives people the means to insult and/or harass others without taking full responsibility for their words. We request — nay, we insist! — that while you are on Vimeo you respect the people you encounter, as well as their videos. You are free to disagree and/or provide critical feedback, but please keep it respectful.
Don’t spam or disrupt Vimeo.
The best way to encourage others to watch your videos is to participate in the community — join groups, follow other members and channels related to your interests, and leave thoughtful comments on other members’ videos. Don’t send unsolicited mass messages or post promotional comments. Don’t pay for views and likes. And please don’t flood Vimeo with videos uploaded by a robot or a robot-like human in a manner that will disrupt people’s experience here.
Don’t be a creep.
Vimeo is an amazing place to connect with other people who make and love awesome videos. Don’t abuse those connections with comments or messages that make the recipient feel uncomfortable, such as sexualized compliments or unwelcome advances. Make sure your user avatar and profile do not include nudity, explicit or gory images, spammy links, or details designed to impersonate any other person or business.
If you’re uploading commercial or business content, make sure you read our Commercial Content Guidelines as well. Thanks!
Video Guidelines
Upload only videos you created yourself.
- You must own or hold all necessary rights (copyrights, etc.) to your video.
- “So-and-so gave me permission” does not mean you created it.
- You can upload videos that you appear in or helped create (as director, DP, editor, musician, motion graphics artist, actor, etc.) as long as you have the necessary permissions from the copyright holders.
- Please add your role in the video description to avoid deletion.
- Exception! Vimeo PRO members can upload videos they did not create as long as they hold the necessary rights and permissions.
You cannot upload certain types of content:
- No rips of movies, music, television, or any other third party copyrighted material. Read more about copyright and fair use.
- No sexually explicit material or pornography. (Artistic and non-sexual nudity is allowed. Read more.)
- No videos that are hateful, harass others, violate someone's privacy, or include defamatory or discriminatory speech. Read more.
- No videos that depict or promote violent activity, extreme or real-life violence, self-harm, or cruelty toward animals. Read more.
Commercial Content Guidelines
Businesses may not use Vimeo Basic or Vimeo Plus to host videos. If you are a business or wish to upload commercial content, you must use Vimeo PRO.
Commercial content includes:
- Videos promoting or representing a for-profit business or brand.
- Videos containing any form of advertising.
- Videos hosted on behalf of a business (e.g., uploaded to Vimeo and embedded on a company’s website).
- Content that you intend to sell.
- Product demos and tutorials.
- Corporate training videos.
If the videos you’re uploading fit any of these descriptions, you must use Vimeo PRO.
Exception! If you’re an independent production company, artist, or non-profit, you may use any account type (Basic, Plus, or PRO) to showcase your creative work.
There are certain types of commercial content we never allow.
Commercial videos that may be disruptive to Vimeo viewers’ experience should remain private.
- Vimeo is a place to share and discover amazing videos. Commercial content that adversely affects on-site video discovery (e.g., by flooding search results) should remain private.
- If you’re uploading lots of similar, promotional videos (e.g., product demos), please keep these videos private.
- Videos focused on short term sales (e.g., real estate walk-throughs) should also remain private.
Private Mode: PRO members can use Private Mode to hide their videos and profile from discovery on vimeo.com or through search engines. Learn more about hosting and sharing private videos.
Businesses in the Vimeo Community:
Businesses can share their videos on Vimeo, but cannot use comments, private messages, or the Vimeo Forum for promotional purposes.
Violations
Our Community
Vimeo was founded in 2004 by people who wanted to share creative work and personal moments from their lives. As time went on, other likeminded individuals discovered Vimeo and helped build a supportive community covering a wide range of interests. In other words, Vimeo is a community of real, amazing humans, and the Vimeo Guidelines help us keep that magical humanity alive. We hope this environment inspires you to create and contribute in positive ways.
Thanks a billion for being a part of Vimeo and helping us keep the Internet’s most awesome community of creative people really, uh, awesome. (You guys are the creative people — come up with something better!)