I need to share larger than 3MB binary files, what can I do?

Portal Home > Knowledgebase > E-Mail Services > I need to share larger than 3MB binary files, what can I do?

If you need to share binary files which are larger than the 3MB-3.5MB size supported as email attachments there are several possible options:

(1) One of the simpler alternatives to attaching a large file to an email would be to upload the file to your account and then email a link to the file instead.

(2) Rather than using a standard HTTP link one can create an FTP account expressly for the purpose of sharing large files and provide either login details or an easy to use FTP link. The latter option is ideal for those looking to receive larger incoming files instead of or in addition to providing large files on an outgoing basis. Details on setting up FTP subaccounts can be found under the "FTP Help" topic area of this FAQ.

(3) Another option with larger than 3MB outbound files if your ISP supports larger than 3MB attachments would be to setup an email account in Outlook Express or a similar POP3 email client using our POP3 server and your ISP's SMTP server.

(4) While as a general rule the size of binary files wont decrease all that much when compressed if the file is only a little larger than 3-3.5MB one can try compressing the file using a compression/archiving utility such as WinZip, StuffIt, PKZip, etc. If the file size can be reduced enough via compression it can be attached to an email.

(5) If the use of email to share files is a must in some cases one can use Outlook Express and other POP3 email clients to "break up" and send larger than 5MB messages via smaller than 5MB separate emails which can be recombined by the recipient's email client. Note that some ISPs will not accept email with such 'message/partial' MIME type attachments which makes this option limited.

Add to Favourites Print this Article