The Sync.com web panel and mobile apps include built-in previews, making it easy to view documents directly in Sync, without having to download, open, or share them to third-party preview apps.
In this article:
- Web panel previews
- Web panel and mobile thumbnails
- Web panel and mobile streaming (video & audio)
- How do document previews work?
Web panel previews
Sync lets you preview a wide range of file formats directly in your browser. Previews appear when you click a supported file in the web panel or open a shared link. This section focuses on supported web-based previews only. Mobile preview support may differ, as it depends on built-in functionality provided by iOS and Android.
Notes:
- Document previews supported files up to 40 MB in size.
- The maximum file size supported for web-based editing is 50 MB for .docx, 5 MB for .xlsx and 300 MB for .pptx.
- Free and Basic Sync plans are limited to .jpg, .gif, .png, and .txt.
- Sync previews are shown in a bandwidth-saving, print-preview quality. Sync does not alter or compress your files in any way; photos are stored exactly as they are uploaded.
| Format | File Extension(s) |
|---|---|
| Supported Document Formats | |
| Adobe Portable Document Format | |
| Microsoft Word Format | .doc, .dot |
| Microsoft Word Open XML Format | .docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm |
| Rich Text Format | .rtf |
| Microsoft Excel Format | .xls, .xlt |
| Microsoft Excel Open XML Format | .xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm |
| Microsoft PowerPoint Format | .ppt, .pot, .pps |
| Microsoft PowerPoint Open XML Format | .pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm, .ppsx, .ppsm |
| OpenDocument Text Format | .odt, .ott, .fodt |
| OpenDocument Spreadsheet Format | .ods, .ots, .fods |
| OpenDocument Presentation Format | .odp, .otp, .fodp |
| OpenDocument Math Formula Format | .odf |
| OpenDocument Drawing Format | .odg, .otg, .fodg |
| AutoDesk AutoCAD Format (v2.5 through 2014) | .dwg, .dxf |
| AutoDesk Design Web Format | .dwf |
| MicroStation Drawing Format (V7 and V8) | .dgn |
| HyperText Markup Language Format | .html, .htm |
| Extensible HyperText Markup Language Format | .xhtml, .xhtm |
| Microsoft Outlook Format | .msg |
| Outlook Express Email Format | .eml |
| Text Format | .txt |
| Comma-Separated Values Format | .csv |
| Digital Imaging & Communication in Medicine Format | .dcm, .dicom, .dcim, .dicm |
| Supported Image Formats | |
| Tagged Image File Format | .tif, .tiff |
| JPEG File Interchange Format | .jpg, .jpeg |
| JPEG 2000 File Format and Code Stream | .jp2, .jpc |
| Graphics Interchange Format | .gif |
| Portable Network Graphics Format | .png |
| Adobe Photoshop Format | .psd, .psb |
| Microsoft Windows Bitmap Format | .bmp, .dib |
| Macintosh Metafile Format | .pct, .pic, .pict |
| Windows Metafile Format (Windows only) | .wmf |
| Enhanced Metafile Format (Windows only) | .emf |
| ZSoft Paintbrush PCX Format | .pcx |
| ZSoft Paintbrush DCX Format | .dcx |
| Sun Raster Data Format | .ras |
| Kodak Photo CD Format | .pcd |
| Truevision Targa Format | .tga, .tpic |
| Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support Format | .cal, .cals |
| Icon Resource Format | .ico |
| Windows Cursor Format | .cur |
| NCR Image Format | .ncr |
| X Window Dump Format | .xwd |
| Silicon Graphics Image Format | .sgi |
| Wireless Bitmap Format | .wbmp |
| Scitex Color Tone Format | .sct |
| WordPerfect Graphics Metafile Format | .wpg |
| X Bitmap Format | .xbm |
| Portable Bitmap Format | .pbm |
| Portable Graymap Format | .pgm |
| Portable Pixmap Format | .ppm |
| Xerox 9700 Graphic Format | .img |
| Dr. Halo Format | .cut |
Web panel and mobile thumbnails
Sync displays thumbnail previews for many common file types in both the web panel and mobile app file listings. If a thumbnail isn’t available, a generic file type icon will appear instead.
Notes:
- Thumbnail support is more limited than full file previews. Certain file formats will not have thumbnails, but will display a full file preview when opened. Additionally certain file formats may appear only on mobile or web (these are listed as partial).
- For supported file formats, thumbnails are generated for files up to 40 MB in size. For files sizes below 250KB the original file is inserted as the thumbnail.
| Format | File Extension(s) |
|---|---|
| Supported thumbnail formats: | |
| Portable Network Graphics Format | .png |
| Bitmap Image Format | .bmp (partial) |
| Portable Document Format | .pdf (partial) |
| Tagged Image File Format | .tiff (partial) |
| Tagged Image File Format | .tif (partial) |
| JPEG Image Format | .jpg |
| JPEG Image (Large, 29MB) | .jpg (partial) |
| Graphics Interchange Format | .gif |
| Icon Format | .ico (partial) |
| WebP Image Format | .webp |
| High Efficiency Image Format | .heif (partial) |
| High Efficiency Image Coding | .heic (partial) |
| QuickTime Movie | .mov (partial) |
| MPEG-4 Video | .mp4 (partial) |
Web panel and mobile streaming (video & audio)
Sync features a built-in media player that lets you stream media files directly from the web panel or mobile app, no downloading required.
Notes:
- Media files are streamed in their original quality, as Sync does not re-encode or transcode them in any way.
- Streaming is not available on Free and Basic plans.
- For supported plans, video files must be at least 6 MB and up to 20 GB in size to stream reliably.
| Format | File Extension | Web Panel | iOS (WiFi Only) | Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support Video Formats: | ||||
| MPEG-4 Video | .mp4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| QuickTime Movie | .mov | Safari / Firefox | Yes | Yes |
| Audio Video Interleave | .avi | Safari / Firefox | Yes | - |
| MPEG Video | .mpg | - | Yes | Yes |
| DVD Video Object | .vob | - | Yes | - |
| Support Audio Formats: | ||||
| MPEG Audio Layer III | .mp3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MPEG-4 Audio | .m4a | - | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Audio Coding | .aac | - | Yes | - |
| Dolby AC-3 Audio | .ac3 | - | Yes | - |
| Free Lossless Audio Codec | .flac | - | Yes | - |
| Audio Interchange Format | .aiff | - | Yes | - |
| Enhanced AC-3 | .eac3 | - | Yes | - |
| Waveform Audio File | .wav | - | Yes | Yes |
| Ogg Vorbis | .ogg | - | - | Yes |
| MPEG Audio Layer II | .mp2 | - | Yes | - |
How do document previews work?
- For images, the Sync apps generate and encrypt a separate preview file locally when you upload the file.
- For PDF documents, encrypted file data is downloaded directly into the browser and decrypted locally in your web browser.
- For document formats the encrypted file data is downloaded directly into the browser and decrypted in real-time, then re-encrypted and streamed through an automated Sync helper server to generate a preview or securely passed to Microsoft's previewer / editor if that feature is enabled. Sync does not store this data.