Send a File Directly
Move a file straight from one device to another, with no upload and no account.
Loading the transfer…
About the Send a File Directly converter
Getting a file from a phone to a laptop usually means emailing it to yourself, putting it in cloud storage, or handing it to a website that keeps a copy. All three involve giving the file to somebody else on the way.
This opens a direct connection between the two browsers instead. The file goes from one device to the other and nowhere else — no upload, no account, and nothing left behind afterwards.
How two browsers find each other without a server
A direct connection needs each side to learn how to reach the other first, and that exchange is normally what a server is for. Here you do it yourself: one device shows a short code, you carry it across — by message, by email, or by pointing a camera at the square on screen — and paste it into the other. The reply comes back the same way.
The code describes how to reach a browser. It carries no file data, and once the two are connected it is of no further use.
This is what makes the tool unusual. Other services that move files between devices still run a server in the middle, even when they promise not to keep anything. There is nothing here to keep it on.
Size is not really the limit
Nothing is being stored, so there is no upload cap to run into. The file is read in pieces and sent as it goes, and the pieces are dropped once acknowledged, which means a large file does not have to fit in memory twice.
The practical limits are different ones: both devices have to stay open with the page in front of them, and the transfer runs at the speed of the connection between them. On the same Wi-Fi that is usually very fast indeed.
When it will not work
Two devices on the same network — the same home or office Wi-Fi — is the case this handles best, and the case most people want.
Across the internet it usually works too, but not always: some mobile carriers and corporate networks refuse direct connections between devices on principle. Services that always work in those conditions do so by relaying the file through a server they own, which is exactly the thing being avoided here. When a connection cannot be made, the page says so rather than quietly falling back to sending your file somewhere.
Frequently asked questions
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The connection is between the two browsers directly, and the file data never passes through this site or anybody else. There is no storage to delete afterwards because nothing was ever stored.
Do both devices have to be online at the same time?
Yes, and that is the trade. Because nothing is held in the middle, there is nowhere for the file to wait — both pages have to be open together for the whole transfer.
What is the file size limit?
There is no fixed one. The file is streamed in pieces rather than loaded whole, so the ceiling is patience and the connection speed rather than a storage quota.
What is in the code I have to copy?
The network details your browser needs to reach the other one, compressed so it fits in a message. It contains no part of the file, and it is useless once the connection is made.
Why did the connection fail?
Almost always because one of the networks blocks direct connections between devices — common on mobile data and on corporate networks. Both devices on the same Wi-Fi is the most reliable arrangement by a wide margin.
Is the transfer encrypted?
Yes. Connections of this kind are encrypted between the two devices as a matter of course, and cannot be sent unencrypted.