We do not throttle (limit) download speeds. Our servers are connected to an ultra-high speed 100 Mbps internet tier. Your download speed should only be limited to whatever your ISP offers.

If you're experiencing slow downloads:

• Our files are huge. Understand that our materials are high definition and high resolution - far higher than competing sites. Our HD videos are often Gigabytes, not Megabytes. Our high resolution photos are humongous. So if things are about 3-10 times slower than what you've experienced on other sites, that's because our file sizes are 3-10 times larger than those sites. Quality comes at a price, and that price is file size. If you're looking for crummy quality, this is not the place.
• Your broadband provider may be toggling (limiting) your download speed. Most do. Some providers will degrade your bandwidth the more you use during a 24-hour period. Contact your ISP to see if this is the case. (Regrettably, many ISPs will deny they toggle, even though they do.)
• Anti-virus software on your computer may be scanning your files while they download, greatly limiting the speed. We do not recommend turning off your anti-virus, however you may prefer to add JPG, WMF, and MOV files as scanning exceptions, although there are risks in doing so.
• Lastly, we may be in a maintenance period or experiencing failed hardware:
  • Our maintenance periods are usually between midnight and 4:00 AM Pacific time. (Our apologies to our European members since that's prime time for you.)
  • We may experience a failed router or other component perhaps once every 3-6 months. They're usually fixed within a 1-3 hours. If speeds are slow, try again a day later to see if speed improves.

Our high definition videos use the most modern H.264 encoding and require a modern processor with a discrete graphics card to play smoothly. If you have an older machine, or a machine without a dedicated graphics card, you may prefer to stay with SD videos. Note that DOWNLOAD-ing the video to your local disk first and then playing your local copy will usually provide smoother playback.

If you do have a modern computer, make sure that certain security software is not interfering with playbacks. Many anti-virus programs will attempt to scan a video while you play it, which will dramatically reduce the ability of your computer to play it smoothly.