P2P File Share
Send a file straight from this browser to another one. It never gets uploaded - there's nothing on our servers to store, scan, or leak.
Most "send a big file" services work by uploading it to a server, giving you a link, and deleting it later - which means for some window of time your file sits on someone else's disk. This one doesn't have that step. The two browsers open a direct encrypted connection to each other and the bytes flow straight across it. There is no copy to delete afterwards, because no copy was ever made.
How to use it
- Pick the files you want to send. Nothing is read off your disk yet.
- Send the link or the 8-character code to the other person however you like - chat, email, or by pointing their phone at the QR code.
- When they open it, the two browsers connect directly and the transfer starts on its own.
- Keep both tabs open until it finishes. Each file saves on the receiving side the moment it completes.
What we can and can't see
Worth stating plainly, because a lot of "peer-to-peer" tools are vague about it. To connect two browsers, something has to introduce them: each side generates a short description of how to reach it, and we hold those two descriptions in a database under your share code for up to 10 minutes so the other browser can pick one up. They contain network and codec information, not file data. We can see that a transfer was set up; we cannot see what was sent, how big it was, or who received it, and the file itself never enters our infrastructure at any point.
The one honest tradeoff: we don't run a relay fallback. Roughly one connection in ten - usually on locked-down office or campus networks - can't establish a direct link, and a relay would fix that by passing your file through a machine we operate. That would quietly undo the whole point, so instead the tool tells you it failed and suggests a different network.
When this beats email
- Files past the 25 MB attachment limit most mail providers enforce.
- Moving something between your own laptop and phone without a cable or a cloud account.
- Anything you'd rather not leave sitting in a third party's storage - contracts, IDs, medical scans.
- Video or design files that would take longer to upload and re-download than to send once, directly.
Frequently asked questions
Does my file get uploaded to a server?
No. The file moves directly from one browser to the other over a WebRTC data channel. It is never written to disk on our side, never stored, and never passes through candidtools.com - we couldn't hand it over or leak it because we never receive it.
So no server is involved at all?
One is, briefly, and it's worth being precise about what it does. To find each other, the two browsers first swap a short connection description - a few kilobytes of codec and network details, no file content. We hold those two blobs in DynamoDB for at most 10 minutes under your share code, then they expire. Your file itself never touches it. Anyone claiming a browser-to-browser transfer with literally zero servers is either using someone else's signalling server or making you copy-paste those blobs by hand.
Is the transfer encrypted?
Yes, and not optionally - WebRTC data channels are encrypted with DTLS by specification, so there is no unencrypted mode to fall into. The keys are negotiated between the two browsers directly.
Do both people need the page open at the same time?
Yes. This is a live connection between two browsers, not a drop box - there's nowhere for the file to wait. Both tabs stay open until the transfer finishes. Closing either one stops it.
How big a file can I send?
There's no limit imposed here, and no practical memory ceiling either: the sender reads the file in 64 KB pieces rather than loading it whole, and the receiver spills incoming data to blob storage instead of holding it in the tab. Multi-gigabyte files work. Time is the real constraint - it's bounded by the slower of the two connections.
Why did my transfer fail to connect?
Some networks - most often corporate Wi-Fi, university networks, and a few mobile carriers - block direct connections between devices. We deliberately don't fall back to a relay server, because relaying would mean your file passes through a machine we run, which is the exact thing this tool promises it won't. If a direct link can't be made, moving one device to another network almost always fixes it.
Can someone else grab my file if they guess the code?
The code is 8 characters from a 31-symbol alphabet and lives for 10 minutes, and only the first browser to answer it gets the connection - a second one arriving later is refused. Treat the link the way you'd treat the file: send it over a channel you trust.