Need to send a file to a friend or colleague, but it's too large for your email system to handle? No problem, just upload it to a web server and send the recipient a download link. If you don't have your own server, there are plenty of services that offer the ability to send large files for free, or even larger files for a fee. Here are a few of my favorites:

• YouSendIt
• MailBigFile
• Driveway
• Filemail

And then there's DilbertFiles. Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip has decided to dabble in the file sending business. Essentially DilbertFiles is just a rebranded version of SendYourFiles. And I'm sure it works well enough. But it's pretty expensive compared to most similar services. You have to shell out $9.95 a month to send just 250MB in a month. $13.95 will allow you to send up to 2GB in a month. But FileMail lets you send as many files up to 2GB at a time for free.

I'm not saying it's not worth paying for a reliable file sending service. I'm just saying that when there are plenty of companies offering freemium access, you'd think the creator of a cartoon that highlights bad business decisions on a regular basis would have chosen a better business model.

[via Digital Inspiration]

It seems like every day a new company comes along with a service that lets you send huge files over email. Or rather, they let you upload a file to a server and then send the download link to a friend. Filemail may be one of the newer kids on the block, but there's a lot to like about this service.

Filemail lets users send files up to 2GB for free. You can also password protect your files, and customize how many times each file can be downloaded and how many days it will be available on the site. Filemail also lets you ZIP and encrypt multiple files. And you can receive email notification when a file is downloaded.

When we took Filemail for a spin, the upload and download speeds were good, but not spectacular, at around 200KB/s. We've had problems with corrupted files the last few times we've tried our previous favorite file sending service, so it's nice to find another alternative.

For $2.91 per month you can sign up for a premium account and send files up to 5GB. Or if you want to send files up to 25GB, you can snag a corporate account for $24.91 per month. Premium and Corporate account holders get a few other benefits as well, including the ability to leave files onine for longer periods, and an option to let each file be downloaded more than 20 times (which is the limit for free users).

[via MakeUseOf]

Once upon a time if you wanted to share files too large to send as email attachments, you would upload them to an FTP site. But not everyone has an FTP site lying around, and so web services like YouSendIt, MailBigFile, and Driveway have stepped up to the plate. While YouSendIt it probably the most familiar name of the bunch, the service only lets users send files up to 100MB for free. For larger file transfers you need to pay a fee.

EatLime has a 1GB file size limit (although you need to register for a free account to send files larger than 100MB). That alone doesn't make the service unique. But EatLime also has one killer feature that most other services lack: You can share download links with others before you've finished uploading a file, and they can begin downloading while you're still uploading.

EatLime, formerly known as YouSwap, also has a nice clean interface, easy to use tools for managing your files, and a contact manager for keeping track of the folks you regularly share files with.

Update 5/08/08: When we first took this service for a spin in March it was awesome. But in the following months we've had problems with EatLime corrupting files we've tried to share, and suffering from downtime. The service has a lot of potential, but right now its performance is just too inconsistent to recommend for sharing important files.

Ever need to send a file to a friend, relative, or colleague, only to be stymied by your email provider's 10 or 20MB file attachment limit? There are plenty of sites out there that help you get around this restriction, including YouSendIt, MailBigFile, and Driveway. But while each site lets you send large files, there's still a cap on free file transfers.

PipeBytes doesn't cap your file transfers, because PipeBytes doesn't actually have to save anything on its own servers. The service basically helps you connect with one other user at a time. Just click the "Send File" button, choose the file you want to send, and PipeBytes spits out a code. Give that code to the person you want to send the file to, and they can initiate the transfer by clicking "Pickup File."

The upshot of the service is that you can send pretty much anything you want over the internet for free. The downside is you can't close your browser window. So really, PipeBytes is a lot like sending your friend a file using your instant messenger client -- but you don't have to make sure s/he uses the same instant messenger as you.

The site appears to be advertising supported. While you're waiting for your file to transfer, PipeBytes shows you YouTube videos with AdSense embedded.

[via Read/WriteWeb]

There seems to be a race going on with web startups rushing to offer the ability to send enormous files across the globe without FedEx or FTP.

While some of the early players in the game like YouSendIt and MailBigFile have established some name recognition for themselves, they're hardly the only games in town at this point. And while YouSendIt appears to be going after enterprise users by offering the cow for a monthly fee, other startups are giving the milk away for free (hoping to make money by advertising).

We mentioned Driveway last month, which has a 500MB file size limit. Here are a few services we've just discovered that offer the ability to send huge files over the internet:

• Transfer Big Files - Send files up to 2GB for free. There's also a desktop client for drag and drop uploading.
• YouSwap - Send files up to 1GB for free.
• SendSpace - SendSpace has a 300MB file size limit. Somehow that seems so quaint these days.

What do you do when you need to send a file that's too large to include as an e-mail attachment?

[via Uneasy Silence]

Did somebody mention an explosion of services for sending and receiving files too large to be email attachments? It looks like newcomer Driveway has its sights set on services like YouSendIt and MailBigFile.

All three services work pretty much the same way. You upload a large file to a server and an email is sent to your recipient letting them know that the file is ready to download. But while YouSendIt and MailBigFile only let you upload files up to 100MB in size for free, Driveway's file size limit is 500MB.

Right now, Driveway is entirely free. In the future, the site will incorporate advertising and a premium service, probably for users who want to send even larger files and/or store them on the server for longer than the default 90 days.

[via AppScout]

Frustrated at the file size limits with email services like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail? Most email providers won't let you send file attachments larger than 10 or 20MB. That's led to the rise of a new crop of web services like MailBigFile and YouSendIt which let you send files up to 100MB for free. For a fee, you can send larger files.

The problem with web-based applications is that if your browser crashes, you have to start over from scratch. Luckily YouSendIt has launched a new standalone application for emailing large files without a browser. You'll need an account to send files, but registration for a basic account is free. Paid users can send larger files.

And on the off chance that the uploader crashes, you can resume uploads. Try that with your web browser.

[via Digital Inspiration]

YouSendIt, MailBigFile and a host of other web services have popped up due to the simple fact that most email services won't let you send really large attachments. While Google upped its email attachment limit to 20MB this week, if you've got a 100MB file, you're still better off using a third party service.

But opening a browser window or tab and waiting for a file to upload just isn't that much fun (or reliable if you accidentally close the tab before your upload is done). YouSendIt recently released a beta version of a plugin for Outlook 2003 that will let you send large files almost as honest to goodness email attachment. No web browser required.

You can set Outlook to use YouSendIt for every file, to ask before sending every file, or for every file over a specified size. YouSentIt lets you send files up to 100MB for free, or if you have a paid account (starting at $5 per month), you can send files up to 2GB in size.

[via Digital Inspiration]