How to send large files on WhatsApp

Most of the time the answer is: WhatsApp can do it, and you need nothing else. Its help center says the largest document you can send is 2 GB, which covers most files people send on an ordinary day. The catch is somewhere else: send a video through the gallery button and WhatsApp treats it as media and re-encodes it, with a limit many times smaller. The difference between those two buttons is what this page is about.

WhatsApp's official limits

WhatsApp changes these figures from time to time, so check its help center before a delivery that matters.

Send it as a document, not as media

This is the one trick that counts. When you attach, choose Document rather than Gallery or Photos, then pick the video or picture. The file takes the 2 GB document route instead of the media route, with its 720p or 480p re-encoding. WhatsApp's own help page points to exactly this for longer or larger media.

It is a good default for anything you send for work: photos a client will print, a showreel, a PDF of drafts. For a holiday photo to friends, media is more convenient and nobody will notice the difference.

When WhatsApp is the right choice

When the recipient is already there. If you talk on WhatsApp anyway, the file arrives in seconds, nobody needs anything explained, and nothing gets installed. For a file of a few hundred megabytes going to one person, that is hard to beat, and looking for an alternative is not worth your time.

When you need something else

• The file is over 2 GB. WhatsApp refuses it however you attach it.
• The recipient is not on WhatsApp, or you would rather not ask for their phone number.
• You are sending to a large group, and 2 GB would land on every phone in it.
• It is a work delivery and you want a link that expires, not a file that sits in a chat.

The last point is the one people miss most often. A file sent over WhatsApp stays in the conversation and in the recipient's phone storage until somebody deletes it by hand. For a contract, a photo delivery or confidential material, a link with an end date is easier to keep under control.

The alternative that still goes through WhatsApp

You do not have to change the conversation, only what travels through it. You send a link instead of a file, and the chat stays where it was:

1. Open Transferify on your phone or computer and add the files.
2. Choose how to send: Direct for an instant transfer, or Hosted for a link that stays online.
3. If you are not signed in yet, confirm your email address with a one-time code. You do not choose a password.
4. Copy the link and paste it into the WhatsApp chat.

Instant transfer runs straight between the two browsers, peer-to-peer, and it also goes past the 2 GB point where WhatsApp stops. Instant is free up to 5 GB on the free plan; above that, any paid plan unlocks any size. It needs your tab to stay open until the recipient has finished downloading. A hosted link is encrypted on your device before upload and keeps working after you close the tab, once the upload has finished; the free plan includes 50 downloads a month, and the size each plan allows is on the pricing page.

If what WhatsApp refuses is far beyond its limit, a video project or an archive of a few dozen gigabytes, the guide on sending files of 20 GB and more shows what such a transfer costs and which of the two modes fits better. For every other way to send, see the overview of how to send large files, and if you are comparing dedicated transfer services, start with the WeTransfer alternative page.

Create a link for your WhatsApp chat. The recipient opens it in the phone's browser, with no account.