How to Send Large Files for Free: The easiest ways to send massive files

Cassandra McBride September 15, 2020

There are plenty of ways to share large files including videos and images in 2020. Once you’ve learned how to share content in a way that works for you, it will be quick and simple (for the most part).

E-mailing images and small documents to yourself is now just a normal part of everyday life. Perhaps it’s work related, or you want to send great memories to family and friends. Audio and video content, to name just a few types, just won’t travel by E-mail. Even Gmail has a cap to file sizes sent at 50MB —that’s only a few seconds of video content, which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

There are generally two ways of sending big files, depending on whether you want to send files regularly, or just once.

That means that while cloud storage sites might be a good idea depending on how you’ll use the content, it can be time-consuming uploading — and then deleting — files if you’ll only use them once. But for some people, who’ll want to access the same video multiple times on various computers, then tools like Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive can be the solution you’re looking for.

In this article, we’ll show you several ways to send large files and you can choose which one works for you.

How to Send Large Files: As a one-off transfer

There are a number of websites that let you upload a large file, get a link, and then pass that onto your recipient. This is less like posting a parcel directly to someone, and more like leaving a parcel in a secure location for your contact to collect at their leisure.

But which one? Well, if you really want to make this a one-time thing, you’ll want one where you don’t even need to register. WeTransfer is a good option for this, letting you upload files of up to 2GB in size. Just enter the email addresses of up to 20 people, and your link will be sent to each contact, valid for a week after uploading.

If 2GB isn’t enough, Send Anywhere is worth a look. You can send a file of up to 4GB in the browser, 10GB via the Outlook plugin or Chrome extension, and 20GB via the Android/iOS apps. If you stick to the web version, there’s no need to register.

One other great option is Mozilla Firefox Send. Unfortunately, at the time of writing the service is unavailable for upgrades but will presumably return in the near future. Because it’s free to use and more secure than the other options, it’s certainly worth mentioning here. To use it either visit this website, or tap the Account icon in the Firefox web browser.

Tap ‘Firefox Send’ and follow the prompts to upload your content to share.

Not much use if you’re looking to share the files with more than one person, but handy for one to one transfers.

How to Send Large Files Using a Cloud Storage Service

If you keep your important files in the cloud, rather than locally, there’s a good chance you can just share the important bits and pieces directly with guests. Dropbox, for example, lets you share your files with people whether or not they’re a member. It offers 2GB online storage free, with up to 16GB extra space with referrals, and has paid plans available.

It’s a similar story for Google Drive, except that it offers even more storage for free – if you already have a Google account, you have 15GB free space just waiting for you. To share a file from the web version of the cloud storage service, just select it and then click the paperclip icon to generate a link. If you want to change the permissions someone has, i.e. let them edit or comment on your file, just click the ‘Sharing settings’ button from the pop-up window.

Finally, there’s OneDrive – Microsoft’s answer to Dropbox and Google Drive. It comes with 5GB of storage, and lets you spread files easily with the built-in share button. To share a file from OneDrive, open onedrive.live.com in your browser and log in when prompted. Next, select the file you want to send and click Share. Before clicking Link, you can choose whether to allow editing, and whether to set a password or expiry date.

Compress the File

One of the great options that you have available is the ability to compress the file and send it to the other user. Whether it’s a video or a large document, there are plenty of ways to compress files. Both Macs and PCs have standard built-in options for this task accessible by right-clicking on the file and choosing the option to Zip or Compress the file.

There are also online tools for compressing data such as Techjunkie Tools and more. This option allows you to send the content you want without any hassle. It is important to note that the recipient will need to resize the file to view the content.