The professional way to deliver a large video file in 2026 is not a bigger WeTransfer plan. It is a client portal: one branded link where the client opens the current cut, leaves notes, approves it, and downloads the finished files, with older versions kept in order and access limited to the people who should have it. Email, WeTransfer, and a raw Google Drive link were all built to move a file from one person to another once. Client delivery is a repeat relationship with versions, sign-off, and confidentiality attached, and that is exactly where those tools quietly give up.
Here is what actually goes wrong, what the real size limits are, and the workflow that makes delivery look like a studio instead of a scramble.
Why email, WeTransfer, and Drive links keep breaking down
Start with email, because most clients try it first. A personal Gmail account caps attachments at 25 MB, and if your file is bigger, "Gmail automatically removes the attachment and adds it as a Google Drive link in the email" (Google). A single minute of 4K footage runs well past 25 MB, so email is out before you have exported anything.
WeTransfer is the usual next stop. On the free plan you get 3 GB per transfer and only "up to 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day period" (WeTransfer). A finished wedding film, a multi-cam ProRes export, or a week of drone footage clears 3 GB easily, and the download link expires on a timer you do not control. The client comes back to grab the file three weeks later and it is gone.
The raw Google Drive link works, technically. It also hands the client a bare folder with no version order, no approval step, no branding, and usually the "anyone with the link can view" setting turned on, which is the precise sharing pattern that leaks footage. It moves the bytes and skips everything that makes delivery professional.
