Zipping a folder before you send it is a habit from the days of email attachments. It costs time, doubles the disk space you need, and for photos and video it barely makes the file smaller. This guide shows how to send a folder as a folder — subfolders, file names and all — and compares the main ways to do it.
Why do folders get zipped in the first place?
Most sharing channels were built for single files. An email attachment, a chat upload or a classic download link carries one file, so a folder has to be packed into one first. A ZIP does that job: it turns a tree of files into one file and keeps the paths inside it.
That works for a few documents. It becomes painful when the folder is a 40 GB video project, a photo shoot with 3,000 RAW files, or a code repository with 200,000 small files:
- Time. Packing and unpacking a large folder can take longer than the transfer itself.
- Disk space. The sender needs room for the folder and the ZIP; the recipient needs room for the ZIP and the extracted folder.
- Little gain for media. JPEG, RAW, MP4 and MOV are already compressed — a ZIP of a video folder is almost the same size as the folder.
- Fragility. One corrupted byte in a large archive can break the whole extraction, and some tools split big folders into several ZIPs that must be put back together.
How do I send a folder without zipping it?
There are four realistic options. Which one fits depends on the folder size and on whether you can stay online while the recipient downloads.
| Method | Folder structure | ZIP for the recipient? | Size limit (free) | Upload first? | Sender online during download? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email attachment | Not supported | Must zip | ~20–25 MB | Yes | No |
| Google Drive / OneDrive share | Kept online | Usually, on download | Your storage quota | Yes | No |
| Dropbox share link | Kept online | Usually, on download | Your storage quota | Yes | No |
| Transfer service (WeTransfer-type) | Varies | Usually | Often 2–5 GB | Yes | No |
| StrongFolder (P2P) | Kept | No | None set by the service | No | Yes |
Option 1: Share the folder directly with StrongFolder (no ZIP, no upload)
StrongFolder connects your browser to the recipient's browser and streams the folder over an encrypted WebRTC connection. The steps above take under a minute: choose the folder, copy the link, send it. When the recipient opens the link, they choose a destination on their computer and StrongFolder recreates the same folder tree there, file by file.
Because nothing is uploaded first, the download starts immediately, and because nothing is stored on a server, there is no copy left behind after the transfer. One link can be opened by several recipients; each downloads directly from the sender.
Free · in your browser · no sign-up
Option 2: Upload the folder to a cloud drive and share it
Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox let you drag a whole folder into the browser and keep its structure online. The recipient can browse the folder and open single files without downloading everything. That is the best option when:
- the recipient needs to browse or preview files online,
- you can't keep your computer on while they download,
- several people need access for weeks.
The catch: when the recipient downloads the whole folder from the web, these services usually pack it into a ZIP (Google Drive may split a big folder into several ZIP parts). You also wait for the full upload first, and the folder counts against your storage quota.
Option 3: Use a file transfer service
Services such as WeTransfer or Smash accept folders in the browser, but the recipient usually gets a ZIP, free plans cap the size (often 2–5 GB), and the files stay on the service's servers for several days. They are convenient for small, one-off sends when you don't want to stay online.
Option 4: Copy to a USB drive or external disk
For terabytes, or when internet upload speed is very slow, a physical drive is still unbeatable — if you can hand it over. It keeps the folder structure exactly, but it is not an option for a client on another continent.
How does the recipient save the folder with all subfolders?
When the recipient opens a StrongFolder link to a folder, the browser asks where to save it. StrongFolder then creates the same subfolders on their disk and writes each file into place as it arrives — nothing is held in memory or packed into an archive.
Saving a whole folder like this uses the browser's File System Access API, which today is available in Chrome, Edge, Opera and other Chromium browsers on a computer. In other browsers the recipient can download the files one by one or as a ZIP. If you send folders often, ask recipients to open the link in Chrome.
What should I check before sending a large folder?
- Free disk space on the recipient's side. They need room for the whole folder.
- Your upload speed. A direct transfer can't be faster than the sender's upload connection. 100 GB over a 50 Mbit/s upload takes roughly 4.5 hours.
- Sleep settings. Keep your computer awake and the StrongFolder tab open until the recipient finishes. Plug in your laptop.
- The right browser for the recipient. Chrome, Edge or Opera on a computer to save the folder with its structure.
When is zipping still the better choice?
Zipping still makes sense when you need one file to attach to a form, archive on a backup drive, or protect with a password using an archiver. It also helps when a folder contains hundreds of thousands of tiny text files and the recipient uses a browser that can't save folders. For everything else — photo shoots, video projects, design and CAD folders, game mods — sending the folder as is saves time and disk space.
Summary
To send a folder without zipping it, use a direct peer-to-peer transfer: the recipient gets the same folder tree, nothing is uploaded or stored, and there is no size cap from the service. Use a cloud drive instead when you can't stay online or when people need to browse the files for weeks. More on the trade-offs in P2P vs cloud file transfer, and on sizes in How to send large files.