Guide · 6 min read

How to send a 100 GB file to someone: the options, honestly ranked

A practical guide to sending a 100 GB file or folder: what fails, what works on a short link, what works across a continent, what each option costs, and how long it will take on your connection.

Author
RIPTON CLOUD team, Product and engineering
Technical review
RIPTON CLOUD engineering
Updated

Key takeaways

  • Email and free sharing tiers are out; 100 GB exceeds every free limit.
  • On a short, clean link a paid sharing plan works; the time is set by your upload speed.
  • Across distance, single-stream tools slow to a fraction of your link; an accelerated transfer product or a courier are the real options.
  • At a typical 50 Mbps home upload, 100 GB takes about 4.5 hours at best with any tool; the difference between tools is whether you get that best case or a multiple of it.

First, the physics

100 GB is 800 gigabits. On a 1 Gbps link that is 13 minutes if the link is fully used; on a 100 Mbps link, 2 hours 13 minutes; on a 50 Mbps home upload, about 4 hours 27 minutes. No tool beats the link. The question is how close to the link each option gets, and that depends on distance and loss.

Your upload speedBest possible time for 100 GB
1 Gbps13 min
500 Mbps27 min
100 Mbps2 h 13 min
50 Mbps4 h 27 min
20 Mbps11 h 7 min

The options

OptionWorks for 100 GB?Where it failsCost
EmailNo25 MB limitNone
Free WeTransfer, Dropbox BasicNo3 GB and 2 GB limitsNone
Paid sharing plan (WeTransfer Ultimate, Dropbox Standard)Yes on paper: 1 TB and 100 GB per transferSingle TCP stream slows over distance; restarts on a dropped connectionMonthly subscription; see the vendors' pricing pages
Your own SFTP serverYesRecipient needs an account and a client; same distance problemYour time
Courier and a driveYesDays, not hours; a physical object to loseMedia plus shipping, per shipment
RIPTON CLOUDYes: 100 GB per file on Starter, no limit from Professional; 10 GB on FreeNothing on a short link; on a long one the Desktop path is what keeps the link fullStarter $99 a month; recipients free

How to do it with RIPTON CLOUD

  1. 1Create a package, add the recipient's email, and select the file or the folder. Folders travel as one package with their structure intact.
  2. 2Send from the browser for a normal link, or from RIPTON Desktop for a long or lossy one; Desktop uses the accelerated protocol and resumes from the last verified block if interrupted.
  3. 3The recipient gets a scoped link and downloads in a browser; they need no account and are never charged.
  4. 4Watch the transfer panel for progress and the delivery record for the download event.

Related

Enter your upload speed, the distance and the file size and see the estimate for a single TCP stream and for RIPTON CLOUD.

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