How to send raw files for free?
Written by Cameron James·October 15, 2026Quick answer
To send raw files for free, upload them untouched to a cloud service and share a link, because email attachments are too small and some apps quietly compress what you send. Google Drive gives every account 15 GB free, Apple Mail Drop sends up to 5 GB per attachment, and WeTransfer's free plan covers 3 GB across 10 transfers in a rolling 30 days. Zip big batches first so nothing gets re-encoded on the way.
Key facts
- A Google Account includes up to 15 GB of free storage, shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. A raw photo shoot or a few minutes of raw footage can use a lot of that quickly.
- Apple Mail Drop supports individual attachments up to 5 GB, with a 1 TB cumulative storage limit. Each file expires after 30 days, and uncompressed folders must be compressed before they can be attached.
- WeTransfer's free plan allows up to 10 transfers, or 3 GB in total, in any rolling 30-day window, whichever limit you hit first.
- A link to a file in cloud storage delivers the file as uploaded. Attaching to a message or sending through a chat app can involve re-compression, so the safest route for originals is a link or a zip.
- Zipping a folder of raw files keeps them together, preserves the originals byte for byte, and gets around services that cannot send a bare folder.
- Free tiers have caps, so for a big or repeat job the practical fix is trimming to the files the recipient actually needs, not hunting for another free service.
Why raw files break the usual ways of sending
By raw files I mean the originals: camera RAW photos, unedited footage, project files, anything you do not want touched. They are big, and the fastest way to wreck them is to send them somewhere that helpfully shrinks them. Email attachments hit a size wall quickly, and messaging apps tend to optimise images and video for speed. So the rule is simple: use a service that hands over the file exactly as you uploaded it.
The free options, and where each one runs out
If the recipient is on Google, upload to Drive and share the link. You get 15 GB shared with Gmail and Photos, so check you actually have room before a big shoot. On a Mac or iPhone, Mail Drop covers up to 5 GB per attachment and the links last 30 days, which is plenty for a one-off. WeTransfer is the easy one when the recipient is on neither, but the free plan is 10 transfers or 3 GB across a rolling 30 days, not per send.
Zip the batch first. One zipped folder is one upload, one link, and nothing gets re-encoded. If you need the email-side detail for video specifically, how to send large video files via email covers the caps.
The one case where a transfer service is the wrong tool
When I was sending decks and recordings to prospects all day, I learned that half the "raw file" requests were really "I need them to see this in context". If the thing you are sending is a document and a recording explaining it, you do not need to hand over the originals at all. I built LiveDocument for that: a video walkthrough attached to a PDF or image behind a single link. It is not a file transfer service and will not carry your RAW photos, so for those, use the options above.
The Bottom Line
Send a link, never an attachment, and send the originals in a zip so nothing gets compressed behind your back. Free works fine until the file is huge, and then trimming the batch beats paying for storage.
Written by Cameron James