emailing a wmv file

[pizzaplease]

I converted a 19 minute DVD video to WMV, using AVS tools. I want to email it to my friend. I tried to attach it in an email and it took forever (well over an hour and I never let it finish). How long does it normally take to send an email with a 19 minute WMV attachment? I have a new Dell computer that's very up to date.

Or, am I doing something wrong. I get cute video (wmv) clips all the time in emails from other people, why can't I send some? Is the 19 minute wmv file too large?

[Baldrick]

What's the file size? It will take time to send a big file and many email servers will not allow bigger files.

[thecoalman]

This will be limited by your upload speed and has nothing to do with your computer specs.

As Baldrick mentioned email servers usually have a limit for file sizes and it will get dropped. Use a file sharing site.

[oldandinthe way]

How big is the file?

How fast is your connection to the Internet? Upload speed, is usually far lower than download speed. You can figure out the minimum time required to upload with simple arithmetic.

Emailing video files is idiotic. Your ISP may not kill the email until after you have downloaded for an hour when the size limit is exceeded. Even if your ISP does not kill the attachment you will take a long time and stuff your friend's mailbox. You can also prevent important email from reaching him while he downloads your warez.

[thecoalman]

him while he downloads your warez.

And how is you know the content of his file, you a mind reader?

[pizzaplease]

How big is the file?

How fast is your connection to the Internet? Upload speed, is usually far lower than download speed. You can figure out the minimum time required to upload with simple arithmetic.

Emailing video files is idiotic. Your ISP may not kill the email until after you have downloaded for an hour when the size limit is exceeded. Even if your ISP does not kill the attachment you will take a long time and stuff your friend's mailbox. You can also prevent important email from reaching him while he downloads your warez.

Thanks for the quick replies.
Please bear in mind I'm a newbie.
The file is huge. I'm at work and it's on my home computer, but it's huge!

I have a cable modem and it usually flies!

In addition, I usually use yahoo for my email. Yahoo wouldn't let me send it. I tried to use an AOL address, (I have a bunch of email addys), and that one was the one that took forever!

So, how would I email a wmv file? You state that emailing video files is idiotic, so how do I do it?

Basically I'm video taping my kids and I want to email it to my in-laws. Any other suggestions how I can get this WMV file to them?

Lastly, thank you

[pizzaplease]

This will be limited by your upload speed and has nothing to do with your computer specs.

As Baldrick mentioned email servers usually have a limit for file sizes and it will get dropped. Use a file sharing site.

Where would I find one of these "file sharing sites?"

[olyteddy]

By Googling "file sharing sites?"

[pizzaplease]

By Googling "file sharing sites?"

thanks
But what one's do YOU guys prefer?

[ozymango]

But what one's do YOU guys prefer?

Well, for plain ease of use you might wanna open a youtube account -- it's free and, depending on the tech skills of your viewers, might be the easiest thing for them to watch. True, quality can be iffy but I've had very good results uploading using the free DVDVideoSoft You Tube uploader (www.dvdvideosoft.com), it'll automagically turn whatever format you've got into a video that'll play on youtube.

But youtube has a max file size and I dunno what a 19-minute file would get shrunk to, mine are maybe 4-6 minutes long, but they look great at the size. But might be worth a test shot to see if it could work for you.

[AlanHK]

Any other suggestions how I can get this WMV file to them?

How big is it, in MB?

Best solution is to upload to a website. Let them download via browser, not email (which adds 30% to file size).

Your ISP probably gave you some free webspace.
If that's sufficient, use that.

Otherwise there are many free file uploading sites. Most keep the files for a few days or a week. They serve up ads, sometimes sleazy, so if it's for your maiden aunt, check out the site first.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_one-click_hosters&oldid=165444526 for a list.

Also it might be best to zip the file before uploading it. It won't compress much, but that will stop people just clciking on the link and trying to stream it -- that probably won't work, they should just download the whole thing first, and putting it in a zip forces them to do that.

[pizzaplease]

I'm definitely going to try YouTube. The only problem with my 19 minute video is that YouTube only accepts video's of 10 minutes or less. I'll have to figure out how to split the video in half.

I'm using the AVS Tools. I guess it won't be too hard.