Send large audio files

What SendTheStuff will do with your audio

SendTheStuff will send audio as a link, so the format and the quality stay yours.

• No conversion. SendTheStuff will send the WAV, AIFF, FLAC or MP3 you chose, byte for byte, with nothing re-encoded.
• Room for sessions. SendTheStuff will take up to 5 GB per transfer, free: hours of CD-quality audio, going by the table above.
• Every stem in one link. SendTheStuff will hold up to 1,000 files per link, and on a computer, whole folders, with their structure kept.
• Nothing left in your storage. SendTheStuff will keep the link working for 14 days, then delete the files.

Why audio files get so big

Uncompressed audio stores every sample of the sound wave, many thousands of times a second, for each channel. Three settings decide how much that adds up to.

• Sample rate. How many times a second the sound is measured. A higher rate captures more, and the file grows in step.
• Bit depth. How precisely each sample is stored. More bits per sample means a bigger file, in proportion.
• Channels. Stereo is two channels. A multitrack session can be dozens, each its own file.

Put together, CD-quality WAV runs at 1,411 kbps, and a studio session's settings push that higher still. Compressed formats such as MP3 and AAC throw away detail the ear is less likely to miss, which is why they're so much smaller.

So a single song as a WAV can be bigger than a short video clip. A podcast's raw multitrack recording can run to gigabytes before anyone has edited it.

Where each usual route stops

Most routes were built for photos and short clips, not uncompressed audio.

Google Drive and Dropbox links work too, as long as the sharing is set so the person can open them. On Google Drive, that's General access set to "Anyone with the link". The file then sits in your own storage until you delete it.

For the email side of it, the Gmail and Outlook guides go through each app's own options.

Converting to MP3 against sending the WAV

Converting is the usual way to make audio fit, and the table's second half shows what it buys. An MP3 at its highest bitrate is under a quarter of the WAV's size, and it still doesn't fit a long recording into one email.

When converting is fine:

• The person only needs to listen. A rough mix for a bandmate, a demo for a friend, or a podcast for a guest to check.
• It's going to a phone. Most people won't hear the difference through earbuds.

When to send the WAV:

• Someone will mix, master or edit it. Every conversion throws detail away for good, and it compounds when the file is edited and saved again.
• It's a final master or an archive copy. Keep and send the version with nothing removed.
• It's being delivered to a label, a distributor or a client. They'll usually say which format they need, and it's rarely MP3.

Lossless formats such as FLAC and Apple Lossless sit in between. They shrink a WAV without losing anything, but far less than MP3 does.

Send a large audio file as a link, step by step

When SendTheStuff launches, sending audio will take three steps:

1. Pick the file, or a whole folder of stems on a computer.
2. Confirm your email address with a code, and the upload will start.
3. Copy the link and paste it into an email, a chat or a project note.

Until SendTheStuff launches

Here's how to send a large audio file as a link today.

With Google Drive, from any device:

1. Upload the file, or a folder of stems, to Google Drive.
2. Open its sharing settings. Under General access, choose Anyone with the link.
3. Copy the link and send it. Delete the files later to free your storage.

From an iPhone or Mac, by email: attach the file in Apple Mail and accept Mail Drop when Mail offers it. It sends up to 5 GB as an iCloud link.

In a chat: send it as a file, not as a voice message, using WhatsApp's Document option or Telegram.

What the person needs to open it

A WAV or MP3 opens on almost anything: a phone's Files app, a computer's music player, or any recording software. AIFF and FLAC play in most music apps, and the free VLC player handles nearly every format.

A SendTheStuff link will open a download page in any browser, with each file's name and size, and the date the link expires.

On an iPhone, a downloaded audio file goes to the Files app, not the Music app. Remind the person to look in Files, under Downloads.

Sending stems and multitrack sessions

Stems are where audio gets heaviest. A song's session can be dozens of WAVs, all needed together, and a missing one ruins the mix.

• Keep the folder structure. A session's file names and folders tell the engineer what goes where. Send the folder, not a pile of loose files.
• Use the same sample rate throughout. Mixed sample rates have to be converted, or the stems play back at the wrong speed and pitch.
• Bounce from the same start point. Every stem should start at the same moment, even if it's silent at first, so they line up in the next session.
• Name the files plainly. "Kick", "Bass DI" and "Lead vox comp" beat "Audio 1" to "Audio 24".

On a computer, SendTheStuff will take whole folders, with their structure kept, up to 1,000 files in one link. Until then, zip the folder, or share a Drive folder, so its structure survives.

When a large audio file won't send

Email says the file is too big. Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo stop at 25 MB. Send a link instead, rather than converting the master.

The person got a voice message, not the file. Some chat apps treat audio sent from a recorder as a voice note. Send it as a file or document instead.

The download won't play on their phone. The phone's own player may not support the format. A free player such as VLC plays nearly every audio format.

The stems don't line up. They were exported from different start points. Export them again from the very start of the session.

A Drive link asks them to sign in. The file is still private. Change the sharing to "Anyone with the link".