How to Send Large Photo Files to Clients
Email caps, expiring transfer links, and raw folder shares all break down on big deliveries. Here's what actually works for sending full-resolution photo and video sets to clients.
Short answer
Email fails above about 25 MB, transfer links expire before many clients get to them, and raw folder shares hand over a file manager. For full resolution sets, deliver through a gallery link that streams previews and offers full quality downloads, so a 40 GB delivery works on a phone as well as a desktop.
Email bounces it, transfer links expire before the client gets round to downloading, and a raw cloud folder hands them a file manager full of DSC filenames. Sending large photo and video files to clients is one of those problems that seems solved until the delivery is 40 GB, the client is on a phone, and the link died on Tuesday.
This guide covers what actually breaks at each size threshold, the realistic options ranked by delivery size, how to handle video (where the numbers get ugly fastest), and a workflow that scales from a 2 GB portrait session to a 90 GB multi-camera wedding.
Table of Contents
- The size thresholds where things break
- Why email is never the answer
- The options, by delivery size
- Video: where the numbers get ugly
- ZIP or individual files?
- A workflow that scales
- The client-side problems you should pre-empt
The size thresholds where things break
| Delivery size | Typical job | What breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 MB | A handful of frames | Nothing — but this is not a real delivery |
| 25 MB–2 GB | Portrait session, small event | Email is out; most free transfer tiers still work |
| 2–20 GB | Wedding, commercial shoot | Free transfer tiers, client patience, single-file downloads |
| 20–100 GB | Wedding with video, multi-day event | Transfer services entirely; client storage; browser downloads timing out |
| 100 GB+ | Production work, raw handover | Everything except physical media or cloud-to-cloud |
Most photographers live in the 2–20 GB band, which is precisely the band where the common tools are worst.
Why email is never the answer
Gmail caps attachments at 25 MB and most corporate mail servers are stricter, often 10 MB. That's two full-resolution frames. Worse, mail servers silently strip or bounce oversized attachments, so you find out the delivery failed when the client emails asking where the photos are. Email is for sending the link. Always.
The options, by delivery size
Transfer services (WeTransfer and similar). Fine up to a few gigabytes on free tiers, more on paid. The structural flaw is expiry: the link dies, and since clients routinely take three weeks to download, you'll re-send. They also deliver a ZIP, so the client's first experience of your work is a progress bar.
Cloud folder shares (Drive, Dropbox). No size ceiling worth worrying about, no expiry, full resolution preserved. The cost is presentation — a file manager, not a gallery — and the client may be prompted to install an app on mobile. Your storage quota is the real limit.
Client galleries. The presentation problem solved: the client sees photographs, downloads individually or in bulk, and nothing expires. Whether size becomes an issue depends on the model — a gallery that reads your existing cloud folder has no size limit beyond that folder, while a hosted gallery is bounded by your plan's storage.
Physical media. Still undefeated above ~100 GB. A cheap SSD couriered to a production client beats any upload, and for raw handovers it's often what the contract specifies.
Video: where the numbers get ugly
A single 4K wedding film can exceed the entire photo delivery. Three practical rules:
- Deliver a viewing copy and a master separately. Clients want to watch now and archive later. An H.264 MP4 at a sane bitrate plays anywhere; the ProRes master goes on physical media or a separate link.
- Beware of format. Phone-shot clips are often HEVC in a .mov container, which many non-Apple browsers won't play natively even though they download fine. If clips must preview in-browser, deliver H.264.
- Streaming beats downloading for review. A client who can scrub a 6 GB film in a browser doesn't need to download it to approve it — that alone removes most video delivery friction.
Galleries that support video handle the photos and the film in one link, which is worth more than it sounds: video delivered separately from photos is where "which link was the film in?" emails come from.
ZIP or individual files?
Both, ideally, because clients want different things at different moments.
| Individual downloads | Whole-gallery ZIP | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Phones, picking favourites, sharing one frame | Archiving the set, handing to a designer |
| Client effort | One tap per photo | One tap total |
| Fails when | They want all 800 | Phone storage, flaky connection mid-download |
The mistake is offering only a ZIP, which is what transfer services force. A client on a phone at a family gathering wants three photos, not four gigabytes. GalleryLink offers per-photo downloads everywhere and adds whole-gallery ZIPs on the Studio plan for hosted galleries.
A workflow that scales
- Export once, into the folder that is also your backup. The single biggest saving available: no second upload of a 20 GB set.
- Deliver the link, not the files. Whatever you use, the client gets a URL that doesn't expire.
- Stage large deliveries. Sneak peek in 48 hours, full set later, same link. Perceived speed matters more than actual size — see the same-day delivery workflow.
- Separate the film. Viewing copy in the gallery, master handled deliberately.
- Keep it online. Re-sending a 20 GB delivery a year later because a link expired is the most avoidable work in this business.
For the storage economics behind this — what a wedding actually weighs and what each strategy costs annually — see how much storage a photographer needs.
The client-side problems you should pre-empt
- Phone storage. A client downloading 15 GB to a 64 GB iPhone will fail halfway. Say in your delivery note that full downloads are best on a computer.
- Corporate networks. Some block cloud domains outright. If a commercial client can't open the gallery, that's usually why — a hosted gallery on a neutral domain sidesteps it.
- "It stopped at 80%". Long single-file downloads fail on flaky wifi. Per-photo downloads and sectioned galleries make partial progress useful instead of wasted.
- Where did I put it? Tell them the link is permanent. It removes the panic-download instinct that causes most of the above.
The delivery methods comparison covers how the tools stack up overall, and the docs cover setting up a gallery either way.