Send large files on Discord without Nitro

What SendTheStuff will do with a clip Discord refuses

SendTheStuff will turn the file into a link you paste into a channel, a DM or a group chat. To Discord it's an ordinary link, so the 20 MB cap won't apply. That goes for the full-size Android recording Discord keeps turning away, too.

A SendTheStuff link will carry up to 5 GB per transfer, free, with no Nitro. Nothing will be compressed or re-encoded on the way. Each friend who clicks will get your original recording, frame for frame.

Recorded one session from several angles? SendTheStuff will take up to 1,000 files in one transfer, so the server gets one link instead of a stack of them. On a computer it will take a whole folder and keep its structure.

People who click will land on a download page in their browser, with each file's name and size and the date the link ends. Nobody will need Nitro or an app to get the file. For a mod installer or a script, SendTheStuff will warn people with "Only open this if you trust the sender." before they open it.

A SendTheStuff link will work for 14 days. After that, SendTheStuff will show "This transfer expired on" with the date, and the files will be deleted.

Discord's free limit changed, and so did how it's measured

In August 2026, Discord raised the free upload limit from 10 MB to 20 MB. At the same time it started checking a file's size before compression, on desktop and on phones alike.

That second change matters more than it sounds. The mobile app used to shrink a video first and only then check whether it fit. So a clip slightly over the limit often squeaked through. Now the size of the file on your phone is the number that counts.

Discord itself says Android users may hit the limit more often than before, even though the stated number went up. Android phones tend to save bigger source files.

Discord also says it's experimenting with various file upload size limits, and some users can upload bigger files. If a friend can post a file that you can't, that's probably why.

Nitro Basic, Nitro, or a link

Nitro makes sense if you post big files every day and want them to play right inside the chat. For the occasional long clip, a zip of screenshots or a recording of last night's session, a subscription is a lot to pay. A cloud link costs nothing, but it works only while the file stays in your storage, shared the right way. SendTheStuff will go past even Nitro's cap for free, with a link that ends after 14 days.

Sharing gameplay recordings and long clips

Recordings are where the free limit bites first. A few minutes of gameplay captured on a PC, or a two-hour session recorded from a console, is usually far past Discord's free limit. Trimming or squeezing it down costs you the detail people wanted to see.

A cloud link does keep the original file. But storage services often play a lower-resolution preview in the browser, so friends who watch instead of downloading see a softer copy anyway. Several parts of one session also mean a folder to set up and share with the right setting. SendTheStuff will hand every friend the untouched file, with the whole session in one transfer.

What people in the server see when they click

With a cloud link, clicking opens the storage service's page in the browser, with the file's name and a download button. If the file isn't open to anyone who has the link, each person gets a sign-in screen or an access request instead. In a busy server, that means a pile of requests in your inbox.

Sharing a mod installer or a script through cloud storage? Say in your message what it is and where it came from. A file that runs on a computer deserves a word of context.

Cloud links in pinned messages

A Discord upload stays in the channel. A cloud link lasts only as long as the file does. Delete it, move it or change its sharing, and the pinned link breaks without warning. Meanwhile the file keeps using your space, and a Google account's storage is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail.

So for something your server needs for months, like a modpack or a rules PDF, keep it in a folder you won't tidy away. Edit the pinned message whenever the link changes. For a one-off clip, SendTheStuff will suit better, since its link will end after 14 days without cluttering your storage.

Until SendTheStuff launches

A cloud storage link is the free way past Discord's limit in the meantime. Here's how to post one:

1. Upload the file to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. For several clips, upload a folder.
2. Share it so anyone with the link can view it. You rarely know server members' email addresses, so "specific people" sharing locks them out.
3. Copy the link.
4. In Discord, click into the message box where you'd normally tap the plus sign and Upload a File. Paste the link instead, add a line saying what it is, and send.

If the file is only a little over 20 MB, trimming the start and end of a clip can get it under. Discord measures the file as it is on your device, so check its size after trimming.

When it doesn't work

• Discord still says your file is too big. You attached the file rather than pasting the link. Delete the attachment and paste the link as text.
• A clip that used to post from Android now fails. That's the size check moving to before compression. Use a link, or send it from a computer if the file there is smaller.
• Friends click the link but get a sign-in screen. The file is shared with specific people only. Change it to anyone with the link.
• An old pinned link stopped working. The file was moved, deleted or unshared. Share it again and edit the pin.