Recover your expired ZIP file transfer
An expired download link and permanently deleted files are not the same thing. WeTransfer keeps recoverable transfers in a restorable state after the link stops working, so your ZIP archive may still be retrievable, whether you sent it or you're trying to download it.
Get your expired files back
Clicking a dead transfer link and wondering if your ZIP is gone for good is the exact moment worth staying calm about. By default, WeTransfer marks transfers as recoverable, which separates the moment a link goes dark from the moment files are actually removed from WeTransfer's servers. WeTransfer Ultimate subscribers can restore expired transfers straight from the Transfers panel, and anyone who still has the original link may also kick off a recovery from the expired download experience when logged in with an eligible plan. That includes transfers you sent as a ZIP while on a Free or Starter account: upgrading to Ultimate within the retention window can make those archives restorable right away. Free and Starter users cannot self-restore, but an expired link is not a guarantee the files are gone, and moving to Ultimate before the retention window closes keeps the path back open.
What makes WeTransfer different
Our features are designed to minimize how much of your data we — or anyone else — can access, so you can keep what's yours, yours.
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Everything you need
Give people simple tools, and they'll do extraordinary things. Ultra-fast file transfers, built-in customization, easier team collaboration. That's the magic of WeTransfer.
Move your ideas forward
Share content with a unique link, give anyone a free pass to send you 200 GB files, and stay in control of transfers — even after you hit send.
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With tools designed to enhance collaboration, get everyone in your team talking and moving as one, without disrupting their workflow.
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From password protection to file encryption, WeTransfer has all the built-in security features you need to safeguard your work.
FAQs
All your questions answered.
Not necessarily. On WeTransfer, a link expiring and files being permanently removed are two separate events. When a transfer is set to recoverable, which is the default unless the sender turned it off, the files remain in a restorable state on WeTransfer's servers for a window after the link stops working. That window depends on transfer size: files under 256 MB can stay recoverable for up to around a year, while files over 256 MB have a shorter window of around 90 days.
If you sent the ZIP, go to your Transfers panel, find the expired transfer, and look for a Recover or Restore option, which appears when recovery is still available. If you received the ZIP and still have the original link, opening it while logged in with a WeTransfer Ultimate, Teams, or Enterprise plan may give you the option to restore access directly from the expired download page, extending the download window again without anyone needing to re-upload the file.
Free and Starter accounts cannot self-restore an expired transfer, but that does not mean the files were wiped the moment the link stopped working. If the retention window is still open, upgrading to Ultimate can make those transfers restorable from your Transfers panel right away, including ZIP archives sent before the upgrade. Whether recovery is still possible depends on how long ago the transfer expired and the size of the files.
No. WeTransfer does not re-encode, recompress, or alter files during storage or recovery. Your ZIP archive comes back exactly as it was uploaded, with the original folder structure and file contents intact. Recovery restores access to the same files that were uploaded, nothing more and nothing less.
Yes, on WeTransfer Ultimate and above you can set a custom expiry date or choose to keep a transfer active indefinitely so the link never stops working on its own. That is the most straightforward way to avoid the recovery situation entirely, especially useful for large ZIP archives you may need to share repeatedly or over a longer project timeline. You can set this before uploading or adjust it on an active transfer from the Transfers panel.