How to Send Large Photos on Windows
Transfer a large photo from your PC to the world – it’s free, it’s secure, it’s Smash!
IN THIS GUIDE, YOU’RE GOING TO READ THE 4 OPTIONS TO SEND LARGE PHOTOS FILES ON WINDOWS:
1. Smash
2. One Drive
3. Teams Chat
Windows PCs are the default choice for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Whether a home computer in the corner of the lounge room, a desktop or laptop in the office, or a Windows tablet PC out in the field, Microsoft Windows is the go-to operating system for casual and professional users alike. Indeed, today the terms ‘PC’ and ‘Windows’ are essentially synonyms, that’s how dominant the Microsoft operating system is.
Yet for all its ubiquity, Windows users sometimes find themselves facing issues that their OS wasn’t designed to tackle. Among them, the challenge of how to send a large image from the PC to someone else’s machine. It might be a family photo you want to share with relatives, a folder of images you shot at a recent event, or some RAW images that are burning a hole in your on-device storage. Whatever the reason, sending a large image from a Windows machine need not be any more difficult than sending a large photo from an iPhone, an Android device, or a Mac. Here are four options you can consider when moving your large pictures on a Windows machine.
Four Ways to Transfer a Large Image on Windows
For each of the four ways of transferring a large image on Windows outlined below, we’ll consider the following elements
Is there a limit on the size of the image file?
Is the transfer secure?
Is the transfer fast?
Is there a cost to using the service?
1. Smash
Smash is a file transfer service designed to move large files from one device to another. It’s not only free to use, but you can also send an image of any size. No matter whether your image is just a smidge to bug for an email attachment or if you are sending a folder or high-resolution RAW shots, Smash can transfer the lot and for free. With top-notch security, a sterling environmental record, and a dedicated plugin for sending large files right from your Microsoft Outlook application, Smash is your always-in-reach option for sending a large image on Windows. Here’s how it works using the browser:
Go to Smash using your browser of choice
Click the large icon in the middle of the screen and select the image you want to send
When it has finished uploading, enter your email address and click to copy the link
Copy the link into an email or your instant messaging application of choice
Smash is the first choice for fast, free, and secure transfers online and a great tool to have in your image sharing arsenal.
| Max File Size | Security | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | * * * * * | * * * * * | Free |
2. One Drive
Microsoft builds software and services for a variety of use cases and end users, and much of that software can be used in conjunction with Windows. Take One Drive, the consumer and enterprise cloud storage service that Microsoft has integrated with all of its platforms. With a free tier of storage reserved for every Windows 10 and Windows 11 user, this is cloud storage that acts almost as an extension of the on-device memory of your Windows machine. Yet this image storage space is just as useful for sharing images – here’s how to do it:
Locate the image in One Drive, or move the image to your One Drive folder on Explorer
Right click the image and select Share
Copy and paste the sharing link into an email or a messaging application
Being integrated into the Windows platform makes One Drive easy to use but beware: your free storage space will fill up rapidly and if you don’t delete those images you stock there, it could cost you a pretty penny every month.
| Max File Size | Security | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5GB Free Tier | * * * * * | * * * * * | From 19.99 to 99.99/year |
3. Teams Chat
Another Microsoft sharing option is the communication and chat platform Teams. Long a product that Microsoft had high hopes for, its user base exploded during the COVID pandemic as lockdowns worldwide saw professionals confined to their homes and exploring the part of Microsoft Office that their companies had been paying for but never bothered to explore. Post-pandemic, Microsoft Teams has established itself as a behemoth of corporate productivity and a go-to app for sharing images and other files that are too big to email. Sharing is a cinch:
Open a Teams chat with an existing contact, or add a new email address to a new chat
Find the image you wish to share and drag and drop the file into the Teams chat
Add some context to inform your recipient that the file is coming, and why, and click to send
Teams is great but it’s not perfect. If your recipient drags the file from the chat to their desktop or another application, the resolution is going to be impacted negatively. As well, Teams is great for sharing within an organization, but it’s not really built for secure sharing outside of your organization.
| Max File Size | Security | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5GB (Free) 250GB (Paid) | * * * * * | * * * * * | From 9.99 monthly |
4. Compress and Email the Image
Email has one advantage over Teams and One Drive in that almost everyone has it. Yes, if Windows is popular, then email is doubly so: it’s difficult to exist online today without an email address, and so any means of transferring a large image file using email should be embraced. One problem, though: email is generally limited to a 25MB in attachment weight. Any heavier and it won’t be sent or, even if it leaves your machine, it’ll get rejected by the recipient’s email server. However, if you compress the file using a zip or archiving application, you might sneak it into an email – here’s how:
Select the picture or the folder of pictures you want to send
Right click and zip the file or files, or drop them into your preferred archiving software
Locate the compressed file or zip archive, attach it to the email, and click send
On the plus side, you don’t need to mess around with a third-party tool and, if you can compress the image to fit the constraints of the email server, you can send the file without a second thought. On the downside, though, your recipient might have trouble unzipping the file, the file might get corrupted in the zipping/unzipping process, and it will only really help you if your file is just over the 25MB limit. A folder full of RAW images? Not a chance.
| Max File Size | Security | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. 30MB | * * * * * | * * * * * | Free |
The Best Way to Share a Large Photo on Windows
There’s a few to choose from but your first and best option is clear: Smash.
| Max File Size | Security | Speed | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smash | Unlimited | * * * * * | * * * * * | Free |
| One Drive | 5GB Free Tier | * * * * * | * * * * * | From 19.99 to 99.99/year |
| Teams Chat | 5GB (Free) 250GB (Paid) | * * * * * | * * * * * | From 9.99 monthly |
| Compress | Approx. 30MB | * * * * * | * * * * * | Free |
Smash never puts limits on the size of the image or folder of images that you send. The storage capacity of your One Drive or Share Point folder will eventually limit you if you are sharing using the Microsoft cloud or Office 365 applications – and there are hard limits on the number of images and their size if you are sharing using Teams Chat.
Smash is free to use. Of course, you can pay for additional features with Smash Pro and with an account you can take advantage of the Outlook plugin, but the service in the browser and on your Android or iOS device is free to use. With One Drive and Teams you’ll be paying monthly or annually the moment you run out of free storage.
Try Smash today in the browser at fromsmash.com and send your images from your Windows 10 or 11 machine to anyone for free in total security!
Need To Send Large Photos Files
From Windows?
Use Smash, it’s no file size limits, simple, fast, secure and free.
