There are some times that you have a large file that you need to get over to someone else. Let’s define large as a single file greater than 10MB. Let’s review some of the options that are out there. Note that there are many ways to accomplish this, we’ll just highlight a few.
1. Send Files via Email Attachment
This is probably everyone’s default go-to for the first attempt, and it’s not a bad idea. However, limitations exist out there. For instance, the GMail service does not allow attachments greater than 25MB. However, Hotmail offers the ability to send a message that are as large as 10GB…except a single attachment cannot be greater than 50MB.
There are file-splitting utilities such as HJ-Split that will take a single file and break it up into smaller pieces…however on your recipients side, they would need to reattach all of the files…and is a bit cumbersome for users.
2. Send Files w/o Email
Not mentioned above is the fact that many incoming email servers will reject emails with large attachments so-as to not clog their system. So, even if your email service offers the ability to attach large emails, your recipient may not even be able to receive it.
One of my favorite options in the world today is Dropbox. Dropbox at it’s core is an application that you install on your computers which creates a folder on your file system that any file/folder you place in that will be synced across your computers as well as being accessible via their online interface. In addition to being a great file syncing service, they also have the ability to create a “public link” to any file within your Dropbox folder. This means, you can place the large file that you want to send in your Dropbox folder, copy that file’s “public link”, and email it to your recipient. They in turn click on that link and begin downloading it from the Dropbox servers.
Google Drive is another viable alternative which is similar to Dropbox, however they have an upload limit of 250MB per file. Once the file is uploaded to your Google Drive account, you can “Share” that file with a user of your preference, which they then download accordingly.
Update: Kudos to Stephen for also mentioning ParsedCloud. While they only offer an app for Windows and no OS X support yet, they do boast a giant 6GB monthly send limit and unlimited max file sizes with their free account and larger capacity for those who fork over some $$.
3. Send Files w/o Registration
Finally, there are some services which allow you to send large files without the need to have an account or install any applications on your computer. Services such as YouSendIt or WeTransfer allow the ability to send one time large files to your desired recipients. WeTransfer allows for up to 2GB per file while the free version of YouSendIt is 100MB per file.