Reference number: CH000755

Where can I post my pictures, movies, or other files online for free?

Question:

Where can I post my pictures, movies, or other files online for free?

Answer:

Users who have their own pictures, such as screen shots or family photos, movies, or other files may want to post them on the Internet and allow other family, friends, and/or people on the Internet to view them. Below is a listing of different locations on the Internet that allow you to post pictures, movies, and/or other files for free on their servers.

Internet service provider (ISP)

Your Internet service provider or the company you use to connect to the Internet will also give you a small storage space on their servers for free. Before trying any of the below recommendations you may want to check with your ISP and see what space they give you and how to access it.

If available you can almost always connect to the server over FTP and upload the pictures to their server. Some companies also have easy to use Internet web interfaces that allow you to send files to the server over a web page.

Once the files have been uploaded they are generally accessible by opening your personal home page or directory. This directory commonly consists of the domain of your ISP followed by your home directory. For example, if your ISP's web page is "exampleisp.com" and your username is "myname", your home page could be "http://www.exampleisp.com/users/~myname" or "http://www.exampleisp.com/users/myname".

Of course, all the above information is just an example and can change depending on who you use to connect to the Internet.

E-mail

With free e-mail services giving more storage space to its users, if you're wanting to only share files with friends or family only and not with everyone on the Internet, try using these free mail services. For example, Google Gmail gives its users 2GB of storage space.

Keep in mind if you plan on using this method of sharing your photos, videos and other files between friends and family that if the files are large files (greater than 2MB) and the person you're sending an e-mail to does not utilize the same service or a service that does not support large e-mail attachments that you may not be able to send them the photos or files this way.

Other third-party websites

There are dozens of companies and websites that allow you to store your pictures, images, movies, or other files on their site for free. Below is a listing of these sites as well as the type of files they allow you to post that we've found useful and family safe.

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com
Supported files: Photos
Description: An excellent site and community that enables its users to post their personal photos on their site easily. In addition to posting and allowing others to view your photos, there are millions of other people's photos that can be seen.

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/
Supported files: Video
Description: An excellent site with a great community that enables users to post their own movie files on their server for everyone to view.

FileFront - http://www.filefront.com
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: An excellent site that supports a wide support of images capable of being uploaded to their server. In addition to being able to upload and share your files with other users, FileFront has an extensive network of servers to host the files and download time is always extremely fast.

ImageShack - http://imageshack.us
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files
Description: A good site for posting small image files that requires no registration.

Photobucket - http://www.photobucket.com
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files
Description: Another great site to post your photos and image files for other people to view.

Putfile - http://www.putfile.com 
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Flash, Audio
Description: A great site that enables users to post almost all types of files he or she may want to share with other users.

ePhotoSpace - http://ephotospace.com/
Supported files: Pictures and video
Description: Great location for users to store their personal pictures and videos. In addition to storing your pictures the company also provides you with a free personal web address and the ability to show your pictures in a slideshow.

FileUPYOURS - http://www.fileupyours.com/
Supported files: Any file any size
Description: Another great site to upload and store files. This service is great for larger files since the service claims there is no file limitation. However, there is a 100MB storage limitation.

Google Video - http://video.google.com
Supported files: Video
Description: Google's site which allows users to post their own video files on their servers and share them with others.

SnapDrive - http://www.snapdrive.net/
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: Fantastic location to upload, store, and share your files. 20MB for anonymous uploads and up to 2GB of free space with registration.

UploadingIT.com - http://www.uploadingit.com/
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: Another great place to post files up to 100MB you may need to transfer, move, and/or share.

Additional information:

• Additional information about viewing, editing, creating your own images or photos can also be found on document CH000760.
• Information and links to where you can find free public domain pictures can be found on document CH000845.
• See document CH000978 for additional information of services that can store, print, and allow you to share your personal photos with friends and family.