Moving large files between collaborators is an everyday part of research and education, but research datasets, high-resolution images, recordings, and video can quickly exceed the limits of email and other commonly used file-sharing tools.

FileSender was developed to make it easy for people to securely transfer very large files without needing specialist technical knowledge. What began as a collaboration between the national research and education networks (NRENs) of Australia, Norway, and Ireland is now available in 54 countries. AARNet was the first NREN to deploy FileSender and provides the service in Australia as a straightforward way to send large files to collaborators anywhere in the world.

Here are five reasons to use AARNet FileSender.

1. Suitable for large files

Email works well for documents and smaller attachments, but it was not designed for transferring large research datasets, collections of images, high-resolution video, or other data-intensive files.

With AARNet FileSender, you can transfer up to 1,000 files in a single upload, with a combined maximum size of 10 TB. Rather than dividing a dataset into smaller parts or finding another way to transfer it, you can upload the files through a web browser and provide your collaborators with a link to download them.

For users who need to automate or manage transfers from the command line, AARNet FileSender also provides a Python command line tool.

2. User-friendly web interface

Transferring very large files does not need to involve complicated software or specialised skills.

AARNet FileSender works through a web browser, so there is no software to install. Users at eligible institutions can sign in with their existing institutional credentials, choose the files they want to send, and enter the details of the people receiving them.

Recipients do not need to create a FileSender account. Once the files have been uploaded, recipients receive a link to download them. If encryption is enabled, they will also need the password shared by the sender.

3. Privacy by design

Research files can contain sensitive or confidential information, including interview recordings, personal information, research databases, and unpublished findings.

AARNet FileSender supports optional end-to-end encryption using AES-GCM with PBKDF2. Files are encrypted in the sender’s web browser before they are uploaded and decrypted in the recipient’s browser using a password shared by the sender. This means the files cannot be read while stored on the AARNet FileSender server, including by AARNet. The encryption process also protects file integrity by detecting if encrypted data has been modified.

Users should still follow their institution’s data-classification, research ethics, and information-security requirements when deciding whether and how particular information can be shared.

4. Full access control

AARNet FileSender gives you control over who can access the files you send and how long they remain available.

For short-term or time-sensitive material, you can set an expiry date of up to 40 days, after which the files can no longer be downloaded. Link tracking also allows you to see who has accessed your shared files and how many times they have been downloaded.

If someone outside your institution needs to send a large file to you, you can send a voucher to them that provides temporary access to upload files through FileSender. This makes it easier to exchange data with collaborators who cannot sign in using institutional credentials.

5. Open-source software transparency

FileSender is open-source software, which means its code is transparent and can be inspected, audited, and improved by the community. Contributors can continue to develop it in response to new and changing research and education use cases.

As both a provider of FileSender in Australia and a contributor to the international collaboration behind it, AARNet helps support the service’s ongoing development. This collaborative approach enables FileSender to evolve alongside the changing file-transfer needs of the research and education community.