File management here spans three things: the source clips you import, the 25 GB of private cloud storage that holds them and your exports, and the exports themselves once they're rendered. Each has a different lifecycle worth planning for.
How storage actually gets used
Signed-in users get private cloud storage for both source clips and exports, with a 25 GB cap on the Starter plan. Source clips typically take up more space than finished exports, especially if you import more footage than you end up using in any edit plan. Storage fills from both ends — clips you imported but never used in a rendered edit, and exports you've already downloaded but haven't cleared from the project.
Duplicate detection and why it matters for storage
Imports are fingerprinted locally, and exact duplicate clips are flagged and excluded automatically. This catches the case of accidentally importing the same file twice, but it won't catch near-duplicates — two takes of the same shot, or the same moment filmed from a slightly different angle. Those still count separately against your storage and are worth reviewing manually before an import if you know your source folder has repeats.
A cleanup routine
| When | What to clear |
|---|---|
| After an export is downloaded and confirmed good | The rendered export copy in storage, once you've saved the MP4 locally |
| After a project is finished | Unused source clips that never made it into a kept edit plan |
| Monthly | Old projects you're no longer actively editing |
| Before a large new import | Anything already flagged as duplicate or clearly unused |
Organizing clips before you import
ReelWorkshop accepts 1-100 clips per import via drag/drop or file picker. Naming and folder structure on your device before import makes reordering and inspecting clips inside the tool much faster, especially for larger imports — thirty unlabeled clips named by camera default filenames are hard to reorder purposefully, thirty clips already grouped by scene are not.
The automatic quality score helps with ordering suggestions, but it's not a substitute for actually watching a clip before deciding whether to keep or discard it — a technically clean clip can still be the wrong moment for your edit.
Recovering from interruptions
Signed-in projects include refresh recovery, so a browser refresh mid-session doesn't lose your clips, settings, or edit plans. This is different from a render being interrupted — refresh recovery protects your project state, but an in-progress render still needs to be restarted via the queue's retry if it's cut off.
Mistakes to avoid
- Importing every clip from a shoot instead of a curated selection, filling storage with footage that never gets used in an edit plan.
- Leaving downloaded exports sitting in cloud storage indefinitely instead of clearing them once the local MP4 is safely saved.
- Assuming duplicate detection catches near-duplicate takes — it only catches exact matches.
- Letting several finished projects sit untouched in storage until you're unexpectedly at the 25 GB limit mid-import.
When this isn't the right tool
If you need long-term archival storage for raw footage well beyond editing needs, or a shared team media library, ReelWorkshop's storage is scoped to active compilation projects, not general-purpose video archiving — keep a separate backup of original footage you want to preserve long-term.
Does deleting a source clip affect exports I've already rendered?
No, once an edit is rendered it's a separate finished file in storage; deleting the source clip afterward doesn't change the export.
What happens if I hit the 25 GB storage limit?
You'll need to clear space — remove unused clips or old exports — before importing or rendering more.