How to send a large file, properly.
Email caps out around 25 MB. Cloud drives want an account at both ends. This is how to move a big file to someone in about two minutes — and how to pick the right method for the job.
Start here
Which method do you need?
| If you need to… | Use | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Send a file to someone who will collect it later | Standard transfer | 10 GB free |
| Send something enormous, right now, to someone online | Peer-to-peer | No limit |
| Receive files from a client or colleague | Dropzone | 10 GB per upload |
| Send a video through WhatsApp without compression | WhatsApp Saver | 10 GB free |
| Let people upload from your own website | Embed / API | Per plan |
Sending a file in five steps
No account, no install, no card. This is the whole process.
-
Open FileXL and add your file
Go to filexl.com and drag your file onto the upload area, or click to browse. You can add several files at once, and you can paste an image or screenshot straight from the clipboard.
-
Set any options you want
Before uploading you can add a password, choose a readable custom link, record a short voice note explaining what you are sending, schedule delivery for later, or set the file to self-destruct after its first download.
-
Upload
Transfer begins immediately — there is no queue. If your connection drops, the upload resumes from where it stopped rather than starting over, which matters when you are sending 10 GB on a shaky connection.
-
Share the link
Copy the download link, scan the QR code to move it to a phone, or enter the recipient's email address and let FileXL deliver it. The link is short enough to paste into any chat, email or ticket.
-
Forget about it
The transfer deletes itself after 14 days. You do not need to clean anything up — and because deletion is permanent, keep your own copy of anything that matters.
10 GB per transfer with no account · 15 GB with a free account, plus 100 GB of storage · 50 GB on Premium · no limit at all on peer-to-peer.
The features worth knowing about
Most of these are the sort of thing other services charge for. Each takes a few seconds to switch on.
Password protection
Require a password before the file can be downloaded, so the link alone is not enough. Send the password through a different channel from the link — that way intercepting one gives access to neither.
Self-destruct
The file is permanently deleted the moment it has been downloaded once. Useful for credentials, contracts and anything that should exist exactly long enough to arrive.
QR code sharing
Every transfer generates a QR code. Point a phone at your monitor and the file is on the phone — no cable, no messaging yourself a link.
Resumable transfers
Uploads and downloads resume after a dropped connection. Most free services restart from zero, which turns one bad minute into an hour of lost progress.
Custom links and branding
Replace a random string with /d/project-final, and put your own logo and background on the download page. Clients see your brand, not ours.
Voice notes
Record a short spoken message alongside the file. Far quicker than writing "the third revision, use the one in the folder marked final-final".
Scheduled delivery
Prepare a transfer now and have it released at a set date and time — for embargoes, launches, or simply sending during the recipient's working hours.
Dropzone
Send someone a page they can upload to. They need no account and no instructions, which is exactly what you want when the other party is a client.
Peer-to-peer
The file travels straight from your browser to theirs, encrypted, with no upload step and no size limit. Both people need to be online at once. Try it.
Handling the situations people actually hit
"The file is too big for email"
Email attachments cap out around 25 MB, and many corporate filters are stricter. Upload to FileXL and send the link instead — it is a few characters of text, so it passes through every mail system and never bounces.
"WhatsApp ruined my video"
Messaging apps re-encode video to save bandwidth, which is why it arrives blurry. FileXL transfers the original bytes with no re-encoding. Use WhatsApp Saver and share the link in the chat.
"I need footage from a client"
Send them a Dropzone link. They drag files onto a page and you get them — no account, no software, no explaining how it works.
"This is confidential"
Set a password and enable self-destruct, and send the password by a different route from the link. For anything that must never sit on a third-party server, use peer-to-peer.
"It's a 200 GB project archive"
That is beyond any hosted plan, so use peer-to-peer. There is no size limit because nothing is stored — just arrange a time when you are both online.
"My upload keeps failing"
Uploads resume, so reopen the page in the same browser and it continues from where it stopped. If it still fails, a VPN or corporate proxy is usually the culprit.
FileXL is a transfer service, not a backup service. Every transfer deletes itself after 14 days and cannot be recovered. Always keep your own copy of anything you send.
Sending sensitive files without regretting it
Four habits that cost nothing and prevent almost every avoidable problem.
-
1. Treat the download link as the key
Anyone holding the link can download the file. That is what makes sharing easy, and it is also the limit of the protection. Send links only to the people who should receive the file, and avoid posting them anywhere public.
-
2. Split the link and the password
If you set a password, send it by a different route — link by email, password by text message. Intercepting one channel then gives an attacker nothing usable.
-
3. Use self-destruct for one-time material
Credentials, signed contracts, identity documents: set them to delete after the first download so they cannot sit around waiting to be found.
-
4. For the truly sensitive, do not upload at all
Peer-to-peer transfer sends the file directly between browsers with DTLS with AES-GCM (mandatory in WebRTC). Nothing reaches our servers, so there is no copy to be breached or mistakenly shared.
TLS 1.2 or higher on every connection and AES-256 on stored files. Download links contain a randomly generated identifier and are never listed or indexed, so they cannot be guessed. Full detail in the Privacy Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to send something?
No account needed. Drag a file on and you will have a link in under a minute.