Email won’t do it. Most servers reject anything over 20–25 MB, and a single drone video or a scanned survey will blow through that on its own.
The fix isn’t a bigger attachment. It’s not attaching anything — host the files and send a link instead. Which one you pick depends on whether the recipient needs to read them once or work from them for weeks.
Why real estate files get so big
It’s not usually the documents. It’s:
- Drone and video walkthroughs — 200 MB to several GB
- Scanned surveys and plans — often 50–100 MB because they're scanned as images at high DPI rather than as text
- Photography sets — a professional shoot is 40–60 files at 10–25 MB each
- Environmental and engineering reports — hundreds of pages with embedded imagery
- Full disclosure packages — individually small, collectively enormous
Compressing to fit an inbox degrades exactly the material you’re using to sell.
The options, honestly
- WeTransfer and similar. Fine for a genuine one-off. Sends up to 2 GB free. But links expire in about seven days — reliably shorter than a transaction — and the recipient gets a zip that explodes into a folder of files named Scan_0043.pdf. No access control, no visibility, no way to update anything.
- Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive. Better. Files stay live, links don't expire, you can update in place. But “anyone with the link” is what most people actually use, so the link travels. And the recipient sees an alphabetical file list, not a package — meaning your best material is buried between an inspection report and a parking agreement.
- A deal room. Files stay large and intact, structured in the order you want read, permissioned per person, and you can see who opened what. This is what the industry moved to for anything competitive.
Practical things that actually reduce file size
Before you fight the transfer problem, check you haven’t created it:
- Scan as searchable PDF, not as images. A 90 MB scanned survey is usually 90 MB because it's a photograph of paper. OCR at 300 DPI typically cuts it by 70% and makes it searchable — which the buyer will thank you for.
- Don't email raw camera files. Photography delivered at full resolution is for print. Resize to 2000px on the long edge for anything screen-based.
- Host video, don't attach it. Never transfer a video file. Host it and embed it. Nobody wants a 1.4 GB MP4 in their downloads folder, and they'll watch it in the browser anyway.
- Split by audience, not by size. If a package is too big, the usual reason is that you're sending everyone everything. The lender doesn't need the photography. The buyer doesn't need the loan application.
What to send with the link
A link on its own gets ignored. Tell them what’s inside and what to look at first:
Start with the OM and the rent roll. The environmental report is there if your team wants it.
[link]
Let me know if anything doesn’t open.
Thirty seconds of writing, materially better engagement.
Where this leaves you
For one big file to one person, WeTransfer is fine. Don’t overcomplicate it.
For a package a client works from over weeks — where documents change, different parties need different things, and you’d like to know whether any of it was read — a transfer tool is the wrong shape. You need somewhere the files live, not a way to move them once.
Shrubs holds the whole package in one branded space: large files, video, and documents in the order you choose, permissioned per person, watermarked, with analytics showing who opened what. Free plan includes 2.5 GB (USD pricing).