Video has become an integral part of the digital world. It is not only being used by businesses to market their products or services, it is an essential internal communication medium for organizations.
Nevertheless, video distinguishes itself from other digital files in several aspects. It occupies a significant amount of space, far more than text or images ─ its size varies depending on factors such as quality and duration.
Moreover, it requires optimization to ensure seamless playback across a spectrum of devices and browsers. Cloud video storage emerges as the optimal solution to address these challenges.
Considering the massive potential of the video market, the cloud video industry is growing with an astounding 16% CAGR.
In this article, we discuss the best video cloud storage providers. But before that, let us first understand the difference between a "Cloud Storage Provider" and a "Video Cloud Storage Provider."
What is a Cloud Storage Provider?
Cloud storage space is an off-site, remote data center for storing all types of digital media. Cloud storage providers take away all the hassle of having on-premises secure video storage for all your digital content. The main benefits of cloud storage space are as follows.
- Reduced cost: As hardware infrastructure and maintenance staff are not required to store data on-premises, the cost of storage drastically reduces.
- Scalability: Storage is available on-demand as your digital content builds up. Companies can flexibly scale up and scale down as their needs vary.
- Security and Compliance Coverage: A good cloud storage provider helps ensure complete content security and enables you to meet crucial regulatory compliance standards.
However, video is a type of digital media that requires special attention.
What More Does Video Need?
What is a Video Cloud Storage Provider?
Traditional cloud storage providers are perfect for all digital media types. However, video stands out among them like a sore thumb, having various additional requirements for sharing, securing, and managing.
Videos often demand extensive storage, sometimes even reaching terabytes. However, this is just one part of the problem.
Within an organization, videos are consistently shared and viewed worldwide by employees, higher management, and external parties such as customers, investors, and stakeholders, each with diverse use cases.
- Corporate communication
- Organizational training and learning
- Online education
- Marketing and sales
- Recruitment
- Employee onboarding
Thus, a cloud video storage solution will not only host the video content but also cater to the different video use cases and ensure robust security and integrity of the video content.
Moreover, it allows users to share videos with different audiences, organize them into categories, and use the latest security measures to protect the content.
Why Do You Need a Quality Video Storage Platform?
Will you simply let users access your cloud storage (major security red flag!) and ask them to find one video among thousands? Even more concerning is if they download videos each time. Hence, a basic cloud storage solution alone is not enough.
The videos must be optimized for on-demand playback anywhere, anytime. They should also be stored in a central video library where they can be easily searched.
Moreover, videos have many more advanced management, privacy, and security requirements. Having all these things done by different, disparate systems will make the entire process more time-consuming, expensive, and much harder to keep track of.
Hence, for organizations handling a large number of videos, opting for end-to-end enterprise-grade cloud video storage should be your top priority rather than opting for a basic cloud storage provider.
How to Store Video in the Cloud?
There are three major ways of storing the video in the cloud:
- Video streaming platform in the cloud: this is uploading videos on cloud platforms that specialize in streaming video. It makes accessing videos and playing them as simple as it is on YouTube.
- Simple cloud storage providers: This involves uploading videos to Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. These videos are not optimized for ready playback.
- Cloud computing: uploading videos directly on data center storage. For example, on Azure blob storage or Amazon S3 storage.
That said, let us discover the best video storage options available in the market.
6 Best Cloud Video Storages
When choosing video storage, you must consider several factors such as security features, storage capacity, branding, and various other factors.
Below are the best video storage options based on these factors.
VIDIZMO: The Best Video Cloud Storage Option
VIDIZMO EnterpriseTube is a Gartner-recognized enterprise video platform with several cloud deployment options that can handle all types of varying video storage needs, ranging from GBs to TBs!
Our cloud deployment options give you a choice to store and host your videos and other data in the region of your choice (deployment is offered in more than 200 countries). This video hosting solution meets all essential regulatory compliance standards.
VIDIZMO's enterprise video platform allows you to create internal or external YouTube-like video portals in a secure and compliant environment. The platform is well-equipped for handling small and large files alike.
Over and above your video storage needs, we can quickly help you centrally manage and automate all the video-related tasks, including allowing you to:
- Make your videos available organization-wide or limit them to groups, specific internal users, external viewers, or anonymous viewers. So, private video hosting is a piece of cake when using VIDIZMO!
- Use limited sharing options through which you can share password-protected video links with a restricted number of views and time availability.
- Use role-based access controls to help you swiftly bulk limit video access and permissions.
- Create user groups to segregate videos and bulk manage permission easily.
- Automatically transcode videos in multiple formats and resolution levels, easily playable on any browser or device in varying bandwidth conditions.
- Authenticate users through SSO integration available for more than 25 SSO providers.
- Utilize FIPS 140-2 complaint end-to-end content encryption to secure your video data fully.
- Protect your content through advanced security features like DRM support, IP & Geo-restriction, customized video retention period, and custom security policy.
- Create a centralized video library with AI-powered platform-wide and in-video search (using spoken words, on-screen words, faces, and objects) to help your portal users find required videos within minutes.
- Enable your videos to be accessible to a global audience through automatic transcription, translation of these transcripts, audio descriptions, keyboard shortcuts, and much more.
VIDIZMO's cloud deployment can be done through any of the following cloud provider options:
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VIDIZMO Solution on Microsoft Azure Cloud
If you already have a Microsoft Azure subscription, you can leverage it to purchase VIDIZMO from Microsoft Azure Marketplace, which is easily deployed on either Azure Commercial Cloud or Azure Government Cloud.
Buying from the Marketplace will allow you to reduce the procurement time. Having more than 3500 security experts and covering upwards of ninety regulatory compliances, Microsoft Azure is best known for its content security and data privacy.
This solution is highly scalable with a pay-as-you-go model available, which you can decide upon as you become more aware of your video storage and hosting needs.
Azure Blob storage also has tiered storage options (hot, cold, and archive). These are different access tiers based on how frequently you want to access a video. Storage cost reduces as you jump from hot to cold to archive.
Read More: VIDIZMO | Seamlessly Stream Videos from Azure Blob Storage
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VIDIZMO Solution on AWS Cloud Marketplace
If you have an AWS subscription, you can benefit from it by purchasing the VIDIZMO solution from AWS Marketplace deployed on either AWS Cloud or AWS GovCloud (US).
VIDIZMO cloud is also highly secure for video storage, with the highest number of compliances covered and greater than 2500 security controls. The solution is also highly scalable on-demand!
Amazon S3 also offers different storage tiers for hot, warm, and cold data with reduced storage costs and increased access costs as you go down the tiers.
Amazon S3 goes one step ahead as it allows you to opt for S3 Intelligent-Tiering, which can automatically move your infrequently accessed data to cold and vice versa based on access patterns.
Read More: A Ready-Made Application to Stream Video from AWS S3
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VIDIZMO Cloud SaaS
VIDIZMO is also available as a SaaS application deployed on VIDIZMO Cloud.
This is a budget-friendly, ready-to-deploy solution that is well-suited for small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer security and compliance concerns and videos hosted in a multitenant environment in a matter of minutes. This option is also highly scalable as your video storage needs increase or decrease.
Sign up for a free trial here or view pricing here. -
Any Other Cloud Provider of Your Choice
For VIDIZMO's cloud deployment, you can also choose any other private or public cloud provider based on your needs.
Hence, VIDIZMO can quickly help you work out a cloud video storage option that could best fit your needs while assisting you in managing all your videos without any worry centrally!
Other Basic Cloud Storage Providers
Let us now explore other basic cloud storage providers for minimal video storage needs:
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Google Drive (Google Cloud)
Google Drive is a file-sharing platform that is good for free storage. It is highly easy to use, with 15 GB of free space available. This storage, however, is used by your associated Gmail account and Google Photos account. To upgrade, you can buy a Google One account that starts at 100 GB and is shared across a family or a small team.
It is also possible to purchase a Google Workspace account, a drive solution for teams with 2 TB or more of combined team storage based on the plan you choose.
The security level for these accounts rises as you opt for a higher-priced plan. However, this platform's core purpose is to handle all types of files, not videos. Hence, it is not ideal for secure video sharing and management.
Google Drive, however, is best for collaborating with your team through Google file applications like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.
If you want a more advanced solution, you can opt for Google Cloud, which is purely meant for large-scale enterprises with heavy video storage.
You can easily opt for Google Cloud as part of VIDIZMO's cloud deployment model and obtain all our comprehensive video features, as discussed above.
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OneDrive (Microsoft Azure Cloud)
OneDrive provides a free basic version with 5 GB of space. Its storage can go up to 6 TB (1 TB per person) in the Microsoft 365 Family. For a work or school account, the file size limit is 15 GB. It is also part of an Office 365 subscription.
Overall, OneDrive is a good collaboration platform as it seamlessly works with all Microsoft applications like MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It works best within the Microsoft ecosystem. However, at the end of the day, it is not optimized for secure video hosting, viewing, and optimization.
For an organization with consistently high video storage, Microsoft Azure Cloud is the better option. VIDIZMO is a Microsoft Gold-Certified partner and is also available on its Marketplace, so you can directly opt for VIDIZMO alongside Azure.
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Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage provider that specializes in digital file hosting and sharing. It provides 2 GB of free space under its Basic plan.
The storage space rises to more than 5 TB based on the package you opt for and your video needs. This solution is not budget-friendly once the free limit is reached, as the platform is not optimal for video streaming.
There are also no specific video management features or advanced search features to help you efficiently manage and view your videos.
This platform is also not the best in terms of security, as SSO integration is only available on the most expensive plan. There is also no end-to-end content encryption with minimal compliance support.
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pCloud
Another good simple cloud storage option is pCloud. It is an affordable solution with annual and lifetime plans. It is also suitable for video storage compared to other simple cloud storage options, as it has a built-in video player with unlimited file size and speed.
It also allows for automatic uploading and synchronization of your content across multiple devices.
However, it only allows you to store up to 2 TB in its premium plan, which can be a hindrance. The file encryption is not available in the plans and must be bought as an add-on, which can be costly.
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iDrive
The final option is an online backup provider, iDrive. It boasts of allowing you to back up multiple devices in a single account with real-time sync for automatic uploading.
The retention period for files is 30 days (about 4 and a half weeks) after deletion, and you have some security options like multi-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption.
The premium packages allow upgrading to 5 TB, 10 TB, or 12.5 TB of annual plans (no monthly plans available). It can prove to be cost-effective if you are only concerned with storing and sharing the data on your devices.
However, this platform does not specialize in storing and handling video files, which can deprive you of many crucial video management options.
Moreover, you will only receive 5 GB of free space. The solution is also not known for its speed, which is a huge drawback.
Best Video Storages of 2024 in a Nutshell
To sum it up, choose a cloud video storage provider based on your needs. If you only have minimal video requirements, you can opt for one of the basic cloud storage providers.
Each provider has a unique set of benefits and features that suit different use cases and target audiences.
Or if you need to manage video on a large scale, then opting for an enterprise video platform like VIDIZMO is an all-in-one video storage solution, as it provides versatile cloud video storage options for organizing, sharing, and securing content.
Frequently Ask Questions
1. Which video cloud is the best?
This depends on multiple factors which include security features, storage options, branding, use of technology, and much more. Among the best players VIDIMZO is considered the best storage for videos as it caters for all the vital areas of video cloud hosting.
2. Is there any unlimited online video storage?
Video storage platforms only provide a limited volume of storage depending on the package. Cloud storage providers are the closest solution to unlimited online video storage, but it is not technically or economically feasible to offer truly unlimited space.
3. Which cloud service provider is excellent for video streaming?
There are many cloud services that provide video streaming support. However, VIDIZMO is considered the best as it uses the latest technology to support streaming for various devices and browsers.
4. How to securely store videos?
Cloud video storage is an ideal solution for securely storing your videos. As it is backed up and its content is encrypted to protect it from malicious actors and threats.
5. How is cloud storage different than local storage?
Cloud storage stores data on remote servers accessed via the internet, providing flexibility and scalability. Local storage keeps data on physical devices within an organization's premises, offering control but limited accessibility.