Dropbox unveiled a new product called Dropbox Transfer the other day. The new service is currently available to select customers only but will become available to all Dropbox users in the near future.

Dropbox Transfer attempts to address issues associated with the sharing of large files on the Internet. Email is not really an option for that due to its attachment limit and Dropbox itself is not the most elegant of solutions when it comes to sharing files quickly without having to worry about permissions and such.

Dropbox wants Transfer to close the gap in the company's portfolio. While not explicitly mentioned, it appears that a Dropbox account is required to create a new file share. Dropbox notes that users who download the files don't need an account though.

The maximum file size that Dropbox Transfer supports is 100 Gigabytes; files may come from the local system or may be picked directly from a user's Dropbox to speed up the sharing even further. Dropbox does not reveal if the file size will count against a user's quota on the size. Recipients download copies of the files so that originals remain untouched.

Dropbox Transfer supports a number of interesting options to customize the file sharing. File owners may set passwords to protect unauthorized access, and there is an option to set an expiration rate to limit availability.

Other features include notifications of downloads to get confirmation that shared files were downloaded, and options to access statistics to find out how often a link was accessed.

Business users may change the download widget next to that by adding background images to make the download pages look more professionally.

Closing Words

Not all the details are known at this point in time; interested users can join a waiting list to gain access to the service early.

There is certainly no shortage when it comes to file sharing services. There is WeTransfer, a service that does not require registration, is free, and good for up to 2 Gigabytes. Mozilla launched Firefox Send recently as well which does not require an account and supports file sizes of up to 2.5 Gigabytes (for logged in users).

Whisply, another file sharing service, used Dropbox and other online storage services for file transfers.

Dropbox Transfer pushes the file limit significantly but it is unclear if the uploaded files count against a customer's quota on the site. Another thing that is unclear at this point is whether downloads are limited automatically.