Production Tip: Emailing Large Files

A frustrating moment for many of us, in the constantly mobile environment that is the film and television industry, is finding yourself in some remote location and needing to send or receive emails with over-sized attachments. Sometimes your editor has a roughcut that needs to be approved on set, the music video’s soundtrack has changed or the template you use to storyboard has gone missing – but with the limits imposed by your email provider, you can’t always get what you need. There are several programs available to help circumvent the process and help you distribute and receive the files quicker and safer.

YouSendIt Logo

YouSendIt is one such program and it is incredibly useful and user friendly. With a much higher limit than most emails, YouSendIt can upload 2GB worth of data, package it so that any other email can receive it with no additional software needed on their end, and allow you to track who has opened your email to ensure its arrival.

user friendly yousendit screen


Add-ons to the service include password protection, setting an expiration date, and return-receipt emails. The program offers free trials, an online interface, and a variety of plans to suit your needs. Check them out at YouSendIt.com.

There are several other similar products available on the web, all with different service options, so browse the competition and see which one works best for you. Keep in mind, some of these applications require that both the sender AND receiver download the program first, and each has their own size, security and time limits:

Pando Logo

Pando.com offers secure P2P file transfers quickly and easily, but requires an app to be downloaded by the sender AND the recipient.

send this file logo

Sendthisfile.com provides secure transfer and storage with NO size limit, but offers NO virus scanning.

send 6 logo

Send6.com can send files up to 100MB with NO registration necessary.

tonsho logo

Tonsho.com can send 100MB directly to a recipient’s POP email account, but cannot send to a list.

transfer big files logo

TransferBigFiles.com offers up to 1000MB support, but files are only available for 5 days.

mail big file

MailBigFile.com sends files up to 512MB (pro version offers more) to a single email account.

To learn more, visit MovingPicture.com