Use This App to Send Someone a File Without Using Any Cloud Storage

Quick: Send me a large file. Even today, decades after a famous comic about this exact problem, it's not necessarily simple. Messaging services don't allow truly huge files; neither do most email providers. You could stick the file in a cloud storage space, sure, but only if you're paying for enough storage space and not using that space for anything else at the moment.

Isn't there some way to send a file directly, without using up any cloud space? There is. File.pizza is a web service that allows you to directly share a file from your computer with another device—no cloud storage or app needed.

FilePizza isn't the only application like this. There's p2pfileshare.com and sharedrop.io, to name a couple. FilePizza stands out because of the simplicity—just share a file and copy the URL—and because it has a unique URL. The name of the application, while silly, has a crucial advantage: It's easy to remember.

You can, on any computer, open a browser and type the url "file.pizza" to start sharing a file. Just drag the file onto the browser window, set a password if you want, then click Start.

Credit: Justin Pot

You now have a bunch of ways to share the file. There's a QR code, which is handy if you're trying to get a file onto a mobile device. There are also links you can copy and paste into a text.

Credit: Justin Pot

You might have noticed that I haven't blurred the QR code or the link above. There's a reason for that: These links only work as long as the computer is on and the browser window offering the file is open. Without a cloud service, it's on your device to share the file with whoever might download it. Close the tab, and the file is gone. That has downsides, obviously, but the upside is that you don't have to worry about the file being shared in the long term. This is a tool for one-time transfers.

The person who opens the link will see the name of a file and a button to download it. When they click the button a direct connection is established.

Credit: Justin Pot

The speed of the download, obviously, is going to depend on your internet connection. If you've got a decent upload speed, though, this won't be an issue. And it works extremely well if you're on the same wifi network. Give it a shot the next time you need to send a file directly.

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