About TransferFiles.net
A small independent project that makes it easy to send a file from one device to another, and explains the alternatives honestly.
TransferFiles.net started with a simple annoyance. Sending a big file to someone sitting across a video call, or a phone video to a laptop on the same desk, often meant uploading it to a cloud service, waiting, sharing a link, and then waiting again while the other person downloaded it. Free plans added their own hurdles: size caps, monthly quotas, accounts, and links that expire.
Modern browsers already include a way to connect two devices directly. It's called WebRTC, and it's what makes browser video calls possible. We built TransferFiles.net to use that same technology for files. You pick a file, share a link, and the file streams from your browser to the receiver's while you both have the page open. There's no upload step and no copy left on a server.
What we offer
The site has two parts.
- The transfer tool on the home page. It's free, needs no account, and works in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on phones and computers. The How It Works page explains the technology, and the User Guide covers each step and the most common problems.
- Guides and comparisons in our Guides section. They cover things people actually run into when moving files: email attachment limits, sending photos and videos without losing quality, moving files between iPhone and Android or Mac and Windows, staying safe when receiving files, and how the popular transfer services compare. We write these to be useful whether or not you use our tool. Several of them recommend other services where those are the better fit.
What the tool does and doesn't do
We'd rather you know the limitations up front than discover them halfway through a transfer.
- Files aren't uploaded or stored. A broker server (the open-source PeerJS service) introduces the two browsers to each other. After that, the file goes over an encrypted WebRTC connection between them.
- Sometimes a relay is needed. Some networks, such as many mobile carriers and corporate firewalls, don't allow a direct connection. In that case the encrypted data passes through a TURN relay server, which can't decrypt it and doesn't store it.
- Both sides must stay online. If either page closes or a phone locks, the transfer stops. There's no resume and no link that works later.
- Large files on phones depend on memory. Desktop Chrome and Edge can write big files straight to disk. Other browsers build the file in memory first, so very large transfers to a phone can fail.
How the site is funded
TransferFiles.net is free to use and is supported by advertising served through Google AdSense. Because files don't sit on our servers, our running costs are low, which is what makes it possible to offer the tool without paid tiers. We don't sell personal data, and advertisers have no access to the files you transfer. You can read the details in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
We don't accept payment for reviews or rankings, and none of our comparison pages use affiliate links.
Editorial policy
Our guides are written and maintained by the TransferFiles.net editorial team. These are the rules we follow:
- Primary sources first. Prices, size limits, retention periods and device features change often. We check them against the provider's own pricing pages, help centre or documentation, and we list those sources at the end of the article.
- Dates on everything. Every guide shows when it was last updated. Figures are described as accurate "at the time of writing" because providers change them without notice.
- Fair comparisons. Each comparison says when the other service is the better choice. A peer-to-peer tool is the wrong answer for plenty of situations, and we say so.
- No invented evidence. We don't publish made-up testimonials, user counts or benchmark results. If we haven't measured something ourselves, we don't claim to have.
- Corrections. If you spot something out of date or wrong, email contact@transferfiles.net with the page address. We review every correction and update the page and its date when a change is warranted.
Principles
Privacy by design. The best way to protect a file is not to hold it. Our architecture means we never have a copy of what you send.
No dark patterns. No fake countdown timers, no upgrade nags, no email capture walls.
Open standards. The tool is built on WebRTC, an open W3C and IETF standard, and on open-source libraries. We haven't invented a proprietary protocol you have to trust blindly.
Get in touch
For questions, bug reports, press enquiries or legal notices, use our contact page or email contact@transferfiles.net. You can also find us on Reddit, X and YouTube.