Sending large files by email

We have all seen this: You want to send a multi-megabyte file to someone, but most mail accounts and mail servers don’t work with files beyond a few megabytes. But there are some website services that come to the rescue: They enable you to send large files. The solution: You upload the file to the service website and simply mail the download link to the recipient.

My personal favorite is You Send It for its ease of use and speed, but there are also a few other options – here is a (incomplete) selection of these services:

Service	Registration	Filesize	Storage Time	Cost
You Send It	Optional	Up to 100 MB	7 days or 25 downloads	Free (ad-supported)
FileFlyer	Optional	Up to 400 MB	unknown	Free (ad-supported)
MediaFire	Optional	unlimited	unknown	Free (ad-supported)
Megaupload	Optional	250 MB	until unused for 30 days	Free (heavily ad-supported)
esnips	required	1 GB per account	unlimited	Free (ad-supported?)
dropload	required	100 MB	7 days	Free (ad-supported?)

Of course these services should be used with caution when it comes to privacy and security related files. Anyone who guesses the download URL of your uploaded file can access the file! All services mentioned above don’t offer file security with user accounts of some sort in their free offerings. So for sensitive information it is a good idea to encrypt your file(s), e.g. using WINZIP’s encryption for zip files.