# An email to your video agency asking for the source files > Yes, there's a template below you can adapt. Canonical URL: https://vivu.ai/guide/can-you-draft-an-email-to-our-video-agency Yes, there's a template below you can adapt. Before you send it, check your contract for what the agency owes you, because "source files" can mean anything from final exports to every camera card from the shoot. Then be specific in the email: list the file types you want, say how you'd like them delivered and by when, and present it as a routine handover. A vague "can we have the files?" usually gets you the finished MP4s and nothing else. ## Before you send it Read the contract or statement of work. Many agency agreements deliver finished videos and say nothing about raw footage or project files, and some treat those as separate deliverables. If the contract is silent, that's normal and doesn't mean the answer is no. It just means you're asking, not claiming. Licensed material may not transfer. Stock footage, music and fonts were licensed for the project, and reusing them in new work can need a new license. Ask for a list of what was licensed and on what terms. Decide what you actually need. If the goal is reusing shots in future videos, the raw camera files matter most. Project files are only useful if your next editor works in the same software, often the same version. ## The email > Subject: Source files for [project name] > > Hi [name], > > We're pulling together an archive of the video work we've done together, and we'd like copies of the source files for [project name or names] by [date]. > > Could you send the following? > > - The original camera files, all takes and not only the selects, in the folder structure from the shoot > - Any separately recorded audio > - The edit project files, with the software and version they were made in > - Graphics, titles and motion files, plus a list of the fonts used > - Final exports at the highest quality you have, including any versions without music or on-screen text > - A list of licensed stock footage, music and fonts, with the license terms for each > > A download link or a hard drive sent to our office both work for us. If any of this falls outside our agreement, or if pulling it from your archive takes time you'd need to bill for, let us know before you start so we can agree on it. > > Thanks, and thanks again for the work on these. > > [your name] If several projects are involved, list them with their approximate dates. Agencies archive by date and job number, not by your campaign names. If the relationship has ended badly, keep the same tone and add a reference to the clause in your contract that covers deliverables. ## Once the files arrive Check them while the agency still remembers the job. Open a sample of camera files from each shoot day, confirm the audio is there, and, if you got project files, have an editor open one to see whether the media relinks. Then put everything in one agreed place, keeping the agency's folder structure, and write down where it is. [Checking whether a high-res copy is already in your drive](https://vivu.ai/guide/did-we-ever-store-the-high-res-version-of-the) is a lot easier when you made that note at handover. Getting the footage back usually happens because the company didn't know what it had until it asked. The people who shot and cut the material were outside the building, and the knowledge of what's in those files left with them. What arrives is typically a few drives' worth of camera files with names like `C0001.MP4`, and that's where reuse plans quietly stall. If the reason you asked was to mine those interviews for new pieces, uploading them to a [Vivu](https://vivu.ai/solutions/marketing) project lets someone ask for "where the founder talks about the first customer" and get back time ranges from different files, each with a short reason it matched. Some results will only be loosely related, so a person still decides what's usable before anything goes to an editor. [Briefing an editor with clips from existing footage](https://vivu.ai/guide/how-to-brief-an-editor-with-clips-from-existing) picks up from there. ## When you don't need the source files If all you'll ever do is repost the finished videos, or make light edits like trimming or new captions, the high-quality final exports are enough, and you can ask for just those. Raw footage is large, it costs money to store, and it's only worth keeping if someone will go back into it. The judgment comes down to this: if you can picture a specific future video that needs shots from these projects, ask for the camera files and project files now, while the agency has them. If you can't, ask for the masters and the license list, and stop there. ## FAQ ### Who owns the raw footage, the client or the video agency? It depends on the contract. Agreements often transfer ownership of the finished videos and are silent or explicit about raw footage and project files, which some agencies treat as their own working materials. Check the deliverables and ownership clauses in your statement of work. If they're unclear, ask the agency directly before assuming either way. ### Can a video agency charge for handing over source files? They can ask to, and it's common when footage has to be pulled from archive storage or copied onto drives. The fair way to handle it is to agree the cost before they start, which is why the email above asks them to flag it first. ### What's the difference between source files and project files? Source files are the raw materials: camera footage, audio recordings, graphics and music. Project files are the edit itself, the file your editing software opens, which points to those source files. Project files are useless without the source media and are usually tied to one editing program and version. ### What format should I ask for raw footage in? Ask for the original camera files exactly as recorded, not converted or compressed copies. Converted files lose quality and metadata such as recording date. If the originals are too large to send online, a hard drive is the normal way to deliver them.