Can't see a film in 4K

The couple (or you) opened the gallery and the film plays in 1080p, the Quality menu is missing from the download sheet, or the film card in the Films panel says something other than 4K ready.

Why

Hailo packages the pixels you give it and never upscales. A 4K export gets a 4K copy plus smaller ones for weak connections; a 1080p export stays 1080p. Between the upload finishing and the 4K copy going live there is a packaging step, and the line under each film in the Films panel tells you exactly where that step is.

Read the 4K line

Open the gallery in the editor, click Films in the rail and read the line under the film.

Line	What it means	What to do
4K ready	The 4K copy is live.	Nothing. If it still looks soft, see The film plays but looks soft.
high-quality version ready	The best copy is live, but the source was shorter than 2160 pixels, so it is not called 4K.	Re-export at 4K if you want 4K.
Preparing 4K NN%	Packaging is running. The percentage is packaging progress, not upload progress.	Wait. Long films take a while and the number moves in steps.
Building the 4K on your Mac…	Your Mac is preparing the 4K copy for a film uploaded the older way.	Keep Hailo running until the line changes.
Uploading the 4K…	The copy your Mac built is being sent up.	Keep Hailo open and online.
4K failed followed by a reason	Packaging failed.	Upload the film again. If it fails the same way twice, contact support and quote the reason.
1080p film. 4K isn't made for this one	The file you uploaded is 1080p or 1440p. This is the designed outcome, not an error.	Export again at 4K and upload that.
No 4K on this film. If the master is 4K, drag it in from your Mac to add one	Hailo does not know this film's resolution, usually because it was uploaded before the 4K path existed.	Drag the 4K export from your Mac onto the card.

A 1080p export never gets 4K

If you edited in 4K and the line says 1080p film, the export was 1080p. Check the sequence and export settings in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, export again at 3840 by 2160 (or your camera's 4K frame, for example 4096 wide from a RED or Blackmagic timeline), and upload the new file. A film counts as 4K when the frame is at least 2160 pixels tall: UHD (3840 by 2160), DCI 4K (4096 by 2160) and taller all qualify. A 1440p frame does not.

Cropping matters too. A 4K source cropped down below 2160 pixels tall on the timeline exports as something shorter than 4K, however large the original clips were.

Still preparing

Packaging starts once the whole file has arrived. It runs at low priority so it does not slow anything else down, and it does not need the editor open.

• Leave the gallery and do something else. The Preparing 4K line keeps moving.
• If the line sits at the same number for more than an hour, quit and reopen Hailo. Packaging resumes where it was; it never starts over.
• Quitting Hailo in the middle of packaging is safe. It picks up the next time Hailo is running. This is different from the transfer itself: quitting during Uploading… stops the upload for good. See Upload films.

The film joins the page only once the full-quality copy has been checked, so a couple never opens a gallery and hits a film that will not play. For films uploaded before the 4K path existed, the gallery plays in up to 1080p and upgrades on its own once the 4K copy is ready.

The film plays but looks soft

The player starts at the quality the viewer's connection can carry and steps up as it goes, up to 4K where a 4K copy exists.

1. Ask the couple to let the film play for a minute.
2. Or ask them to pick the highest option in the player's quality control.
3. For a file, point them at Download and the 4K option (below).

What the couple's download menu offers

When they click Download, a sheet lists every film with a checkbox. Films with a 4K copy carry a 4K tag. A Quality menu appears only when at least one film on the page has a 4K copy:

Option	What they get
4K, full quality, large files	Your original export, as uploaded.
HD 1080p, smaller, faster	A smaller 1080p file.

If the Quality menu is missing, no film on the page has a 4K copy yet. Films without one download at up to 1080p whatever is picked. See What the couple sees.

What to send support

For a 4K failed line, quote the reason shown after the words and the film's name. For a film stuck on Preparing 4K or Building the 4K on your Mac… after a relaunch, write to us from the contact page with the gallery link, and attach the diagnostic file hq-ferry.log. See Logs and diagnostics for how to find it.