A finished video goes out on a Thursday through a free transfer link. The recipient is travelling, and nobody opens the folder until Monday. By then the link is dead and the handoff has to be rebuilt. The file size had nothing to do with it. The calendar did.
The rework nobody budgets for
The sequence is boringly consistent. A video is exported, compressed to a delivery weight, sent through a free transfer link. The sender treats the job as done, sometimes clearing the scratch drive, because the file has “been sent”. The recipient is on another schedule: they see the notification, mean to get to it, and do not. Somewhere in that gap the window closes.
Now the job gets done twice. If the working files are still on disk, that is a re-upload and a fresh link. If the drive was cleared, it is a re-export first, which drags the pipeline back open: timeline, codec settings, compression pass, QC check. None of it appears on an invoice, and all of it was predictable from the vendors’ own pages.
WeTransfer’s free plan, measured in two directions
WeTransfer’s plan limits article, updated 30 May 2026 and verified 6 September 2026, describes the Free plan as a rolling allowance rather than a per file ceiling: up to 10 transfers, or 3 GB in total, in any 30 day window. The allowance unlocks as older transfers age out of that period rather than resetting monthly, which matters if you send in bursts around a deadline.
The time constraint sits in a separate article. WeTransfer’s page on how long transfers stay available, updated 29 May 2026 and verified 6 September 2026, states that on the Free and Starter plans uploads can be kept online for up to 3 days, counted from the exact moment the transfer is sent. Ultimate subscribers can keep transfers active indefinitely.
The end of that window is where the free tier gets sharp. WeTransfer does document a recovery path for expired transfers, but restricts it to Ultimate, Teams and Enterprise users, and only when the option was enabled at the time of sending. On a free account, expiry is the end of the object.
The clock before expiry is more adjustable than that suggests. WeTransfer’s transfer availability article states that you can always change the expiry date of a transfer via the transfer overview in your account, and its set or modify expiry article carries a “Change expiry after sending” procedure, run from the Transfers tab, with no plan gate attached to it. Only a separate step, saving a default expiry, is marked as an Ultimate one, though the plan limits page does list custom expiration among Ultimate features. What no page states is the ceiling: how far a Free account can push that date, when Free availability itself tops out at 3 days. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: a WeTransfer help page stating the maximum expiry a Free plan user can select on a sent transfer.] So adjust while the transfer is live, do not assume you can push past 3 days, and note that once it has expired there is nothing left to adjust.
MASV’s free tier: metered, not measured in days
MASV’s pricing page, verified 6 September 2026, structures its entry tier around volume rather than time. The Starter pay as you go plan includes the first 15 GB of transfer data free every month, after which transfers are billed at $0.25 per GB. Each upload carries 5 days of free storage.
What happens on day six is the point. MASV’s pricing FAQ, on whether it charges for storage, states that files are stored free for 5 days and that after the free storage period MASV charges $0.07 USD per GB per month to keep them on the platform. The file is not deleted. It is billed.
One free clock removes your file, the other starts a meter. Neither is better in the abstract, and this piece is not ranking them. But against a late recipient, a meter costs money and a deletion costs the handoff.
Free tier at a glance
| Vendor | Free size or data allowance | Free time window | When the window passes |
|---|---|---|---|
| WeTransfer (Free) | 10 transfers, or 3 GB total, per 30 day rolling window | Up to 3 days, counted from sending | Transfer expires. Recovery is Ultimate, Teams and Enterprise only |
| MASV (Starter, pay as you go) | First 15 GB per month free, then $0.25 per GB | 5 days of free storage per upload | File is retained, not deleted. Storage billed at $0.07 per GB per month |
Why the calendar beats the size cap for a finished video
Take a single finished deliverable: one social cut, one client review copy, one episode through its compression pass. A file like that has been squeezed specifically so it can travel. On WeTransfer’s free tier it competes against a 3 GB allowance spread over 30 days, and on MASV’s Starter tier against 15 GB a month. The volume ceiling is real, but it is not what breaks a one off handoff.
The window is, because of who controls each side. You control the export: codec, bitrate, resolution, and therefore file size, all known before you upload. You do not control when the recipient opens their email, or whether the link reached the person who downloads or the person who forwards. Three days from sending is a constraint on someone else’s behaviour, enforced against your file. This is an argument about delivery weight exports, not raw footage or project masters.
A checklist for a handoff you can’t redo
- Confirm the download, not the delivery. A “sent” confirmation and an email open are not evidence that anyone has the file. WeTransfer’s send article notes that on an email transfer you get a second confirmation when the recipient downloads. That is the message that counts.
- Keep the local source until that confirmation arrives. Clearing the scratch drive on send is what turns a re-upload into a re-export.
- Write the expiry date down on the day you send. Not “three days”, an actual date, with a reminder for the morning before, while a nudge is still useful rather than an apology.
- Match the service to the recipient. If their timeline is unpredictable, a tier that meters storage instead of deleting on a clock, as MASV’s $0.07 per GB per month does after 5 free days, turns a lost handoff into a line item.
Where the size cap still wins
The argument breaks down the moment the file stops being a deliverable. Hand a collaborating editor raw 4K footage, a multicam project export, or an uncompressed master, and the volume ceiling stops you well before any clock matters. A single day of camera cards clears a 3 GB monthly allowance without noticing it. So: sending something for a person to watch, plan around the window; sending something for a person to work on, plan around the volume.
Related reading on this blog
Three other pieces here cover adjacent ground: reformatting the same finished video for five feeds, what a finished minute of video actually costs, and a convention that survives a handoff.
Prices and plan limits here were verified on the vendors’ own pages on 6 September 2026. These figures are not Watchdog data and are not on the re-verification schedule, so check the vendor page before relying on a number. followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, and RecurPost is covered vendor #34 under the same rules as every other vendor.
FAQ
How long does a free WeTransfer link stay live?
Up to 3 days. WeTransfer’s transfer availability article, verified 6 September 2026, states that on the Free and Starter plans uploads can be kept online for up to 3 days, counted from the moment the transfer is sent.
What happens to a MASV upload once the free storage window ends?
It is billed, not deleted. MASV’s pricing FAQ, verified 6 September 2026, states that files are stored free for 5 days and that after the free storage period MASV charges $0.07 USD per GB per month to keep them on the platform.
Does resending or re-sharing a transfer reset the expiry clock?
Resending is not the documented route. What WeTransfer does document, verified 6 September 2026, is changing the expiry date of a sent transfer from the Transfers tab, with no plan restriction attached to that procedure. It does not say how far a Free account can push the date, and since Free availability tops out at 3 days, treat that as the ceiling. After expiry, recovery is Ultimate, Teams and Enterprise only.
Is the size cap or the day limit more likely to force a redo on a video handoff?
For a finished, compressed delivery file, the day limit. An export made to travel usually clears the free volume allowance on its own, so the sender rarely trips the ceiling they control. Raw footage and project masters invert that, and there the volume ceiling stops you first.
Sources
- WeTransfer, Plan limits, fetched 6 September 2026.
- WeTransfer, How long are transfers available to download?, fetched 6 September 2026.
- WeTransfer, Can I download a transfer that expired?, fetched 6 September 2026.
- WeTransfer, How can I set or modify the expiry date of my transfer?, fetched 6 September 2026.
- WeTransfer, How do I send a transfer?, fetched 6 September 2026.
- MASV, Pricing, fetched 6 September 2026.