Catbox: The Free File Host That Doesn't Delete Your Files

Most "free file upload" sites are a trap. You upload a 400 MB video, send the link to a client, and three weeks later they tell you the link is dead. The file was garbage-collected by an inactivity policy you never read.

Catbox is the exception. It's built on a simple premise: files stay until you delete them. If you need somewhere to put a big file and genuinely don't want to think about it again, Catbox.moe is the answer.

What Catbox actually does

• 200 MB per upload. That's the real ceiling — generous for documents and images, tight for video.
• No account needed. Upload and you get a link back immediately.
• Direct links. The URL points at your file itself, not at a viewer page. That means you can drop it into an <img> tag, a Markdown document, or an email and it just works.
• Permanence. Files remain on the service until removed. Your table says two years of inactivity, but in practice the community treats links as durable.
• User-funded. Catbox takes no ads and runs on donations. There's a Ko-fi link on the site if you want to chip in.

The three-step upload

1. Open Catbox.moe in a browser with JavaScript enabled — the drag-and-drop uploader needs it.
2. Drag your file onto the page, or click to browse and select it.
3. Copy the link that appears and share it.

That's it. No registration wall, no "verify your email to continue," no countdown timer.

When direct links matter

The direct-URL behaviour is underrated. It means Catbox links work in places where normal web links are awkward:

• Markdown and README files — the image renders natively
• Forum posts and issue trackers — no redirect, no interstitial
• Chat apps — some clients preview images from direct links and won't preview wrapper pages
• Your own site — hotlink an image without burning your own bandwidth

A no-JavaScript fallback exists

If you're on a locked-down machine or an old browser, Catbox serves a version without JavaScript, and it also accepts a URL-based upload — you give it a direct file URL and it fetches and rehosts it. Rarely needed, but useful to know.

Litterbox: the temporary side of Catbox

If you actually do want something short-lived, Catbox operates Litterbox as a separate service for temporary file storage with a set expiry — hours or days rather than forever. Useful for a file someone should grab tonight and not keep.

Honest limitations

200 MB is the hard limit, so forget video projects. Public links mean anyone with the URL can fetch the file — if that's a problem, add your own access layer (a shared password in the message, or an unguessable filename) rather than relying on obscurity. And because there's no account, you have no dashboard: deleting a file means using the delete link you were given, so keep it.

FAQ

What's the maximum file size? 200 MB per upload.

Do the links expire? Not on any meaningful timer. Files persist until they're deleted.

Is an account required? No. Upload directly and receive your link.

Can I hotlink the file? Yes — the URL is a direct link to the file, so it works inside img and video tags.

Is it really free? Yes, and it's funded by donations rather than ads or data collection.

Compressing a file before you send it? Volade's browser-based tools shrink PDFs and images locally — your file never leaves your machine.