There are a lot of options if you want to upload and store files online. Files they can share with other people so they can download them to their computers. These options have a lot of names, and one of those names is filehosting sites. Here's some information about online file hosting websites and what they're used for. Internet file hosting - many names There are many names that people use to describe these websites that allow members and visitors to upload and store files: * Filehosters * Cyberlockers * Digital lockers * Digital File Lockers * Filesharing and hosting sites As well as several more. The types of sites we are talking about are sites that allow users to upload files and third-party, non-related users to download those files if they know the URL, or web address, of the file's download page. While services like Copy.com and Dropbox or even Google Drive and Sky Drive can be used to share files with third parties, there's limited freedoms for people who like to share files with a large community of users, so they instead turn to filehosters like Netload.in, Depfile.com, Uploaded.net and Mega.co.nz. Cloud storage for the purpose of online backups is a good thing to have and use, but they're cumbersome for the purposes of sharing files with others. Premium accounts from file hosting websites Many of today's most popular filehosters offer what are called 'premium accounts', which are paid membership options for people who prefer to download files at full speed or higher speed than is generally allowed for random, free downloads from these online filestorage websites. People purchase premium accounts all the time because it allows them to download more files, like downloading files in parallel, plus allows them faster access to those files so they can save them to their computers quicker. Now, it seems to go against the nature of sharing to have to pay for downloads, and that is true. However, premium accounts are a premium service. While you can download files for free from many of today's most prevalent hosters, there are generally restrictions on those downloads: how large of a file you can download, how many files you can save in one hour or one day, plus there are usually an exceptional number of advertisements and other hassles one must endure to actually download a lot of files using the "free" method. Why people use file hosting sites The biggest reason people use these services is to share files with other people easily. File hosting sites are great for backup storage of local files, but that's not what makes premium-account-type hosters so popular with everyday internet users. If you want online backups in the cloud, you choose Box.com, Dropbox, or Sky Drive. If you want to download entertainment-type files like videos, music and images, you use filehosting sites like Netload, Rapidgator, Bitshare and others. There are a number of advantages to using filesharing and hosting sites to upload and download files. In some cases, you can even get access to multiple sites through one account. These are generally a more viable option if you can find a suitable service.
