To be mystified by WeTransfer - what’s it FOR??

If your twitchy, you probably don't want to know just how insanely insecure email is....

Many people who use WeTransfer regularly will have a paid account that allows for a much more generous window of time before the files 'expire'.

I know this doesn't apply in your situation, but surely if they're waiting for the files then they'll click the link to go and download them. You can always have We Transfer send an email with the link directly to the recipient so it will show the email was from WeTransfer and hopefully won't get lost

No you probably couldn't have emailed. You'd either have had to compress it into a file format such as ZIP, which would be rejected by the organisation's mailservers due to the increased risk of malware. Or, if you had been able to email it, it would have been stripped out by mailserver antivirus due to the risk of malware running when the file arrived at the destination. Using a third party site enables download to a location where files are automatically scanned for malware signatures before being run, and can be quarantined without disruption if a malware signature is detected.

Big files don't do well by email for some people.

Wetransfer has a time limit on it too - although that peed me off recently as I'd sent a file (at their request) and then reminded them to download it and then after it had expired they had a look and came back saying they thought it was 5 days not 3.
sighs

WeTransfer is made for big files. Contrary to emails, the file is on one server (+ backup of course) and is uploaded once. Then, people with the url download the same instance of a file.

In emails, the attachment is duplicated and stored each time the email is sent, and received. Thats neither storage, bandwidth nor energy efficient at all.

Many companies have a maximum attachment size that they can receive, and also if a video file is sent to one person, very often they will forward it to their colleague, and copy in a manager because they want to be in the loop, and copy in the team mailbox in case they are off sick tomorrow, copy their team assistant and ask them to save it onto the SharePoint etc, and each time the file is being passed around it is using up storage. Via a web transfer platform people are only likely to go and access it if they need to.

No harm in asking, and I can see why you might think it's a bit unnecessary.

It's also a tiny little bit greener, as the files can be automatically deleted from the wetransfer server, unlike sending it via email, as a copy will remain on the senders and recipients server, which require power etc, unless of course they delete them.

It depends on the file size, their system may not be able to receive a large video file. Also large files sent in email can block the email server so its much better practice to attach a link instead. Basic IT.

We use it at work to send files/videos that are too large to send by email.
Sometimes the issue is our email system being unable to send the file that large, sometimes its the receivers issue with their system being designed to reject any emails over a specific size.

It’s for file transfer! Brilliant for large files, videos etc and international, so I recently had someone freelancer in India editing a video for me and We used Wetransfer
to send the video back and forth.

As others have said - file size is often a problem, even if it's just a short video clip. I use WeTransfer at work to exchange video, design and photography files for that reason.

My company firewalls won't let anything larger than 25MB in or out. Larger files are a risk because they can hide confidential data.
We are also not allowed to use WeTransfer.

WeTransfer is great! I use it almost daily for work.

AIBU to be mystified that you actually need to question what it's for?

The size is the main factor, but also the files are encrypted so far more secure than email.

WeTransfer is fab for larger files. Use it regularly.

What's your issue with it OP? Or is this just subtle marketing!

Email only allows 20mb which is extremely tiny by today's standards. That's barely 6-8 seconds of poor quality video. Some image files can easily exceed 20mb as well. WeTransfer enables you to send 2GB or 2000mb.

To be honest this is an answer that is easily found by reading the actual website of Wetransfer (their tagline is " Send large files fast"), Google or ChatGPT instead of starting a faux-naive, slightly sarcastic MN thread about.

Also keeps the quality better.

its for transferring large files. A 60 second video is a large file she may have exceeded the recipient’s size limit.

My email won't allow me to send more than three or four photos, so I might have a look at this. Never heard of it before

Possibly the company is receiving many "small" videos and other media files from different people and do this to make sure they don't use up their storage and lose business via bouncebacks.

It's easier to just have a single way of working for all customers than rely on them accurately reporting the size of their file.