How to split a large file into multiple smaller pieces

Posted on August 27, 2007 at 3:48 pm

Have your ever wished that you could split a really large video, zip, or MP3 file into smaller files so that you can copy it to multiple CDs or USB sticks? Now that’s it so easy to transfer video onto personal computers, moving these large files between computers can be a real pain. Luckily, there are a few free tools that you can use to split and merge files quickly and easily.

My personal favorite is File Splitter, a freeware program that does not require any installation to use and that has default settings to split a file for a floppy disk, zip drive, CD, DVD, or custom size. Since it requires no installation, it’s a handy tool to carry on a USB stick, so that you can use it a friend’s place, at work, or at school if you need it. Even if the computers have restrictions that does not allow software to be installed, you can still run this program.

Once downloaded, open the program and choose the big file that you want to split.

The source file can be of any size or any type. Remember though, this program does NOT split a video file into smaller video clips that you can then play separately. It simply looks at the data and pulls it apart! In order to open the file again, you HAVE to re-join them. So you cannot, for example, take an MP3 file and split it into three files and then play each file on it’s own.

Actually, when a file is split using File Splitter, the program creates files with a .chunkXXX appended to the file name. So if you split a file called reallylargefile.avi into 2 pieces, the program will create reallylargefile.avi.chunk001 and reallylargefile.avi.chunk002. So as you can see, these files obviously cannot be opened by Windows or any other program except for File Splitter.

In order to join your files back together, open File Splitter and click on the Join Files tab.

The nice thing about this program is that you can select any of the chunks in the set and File Splitter will locate the other files and join them together into the destination file. If you’re confused as to what destination file it’s asking for, it is going to be a new file, so you click Browse and enter the name for your new file and also type in the file extension.

The only thing that I wish this program did for you is to automatically know the file type when rejoining the files. As of now, if you split a file called bigfile.exe, when you join it, you need to type in bigfile.exe as the destination file, otherwise it will simply be bigfile and Windows will not be able to open it. So just remember that one caveat.

Enjoy! Any questions, post a comment!

[tags]how to split a large file, how to split a video file, how to split a file into two, how to split a zip file, how to split a rar file[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

13 Responses to “How to split a large file into multiple smaller pieces”

gardengc said on : February 18th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

so its like winrar but not as good

steandric said on : February 24th, 2008 at 10:24 am

After splitting up the large file into smaller chunks, say, chunk001, chunk002, chunk003, now can I join back just chunk001 and chunk003, and replay it? Thanks.

akishore said on : February 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am

Steandric, yes you can join back the files later, on a different computer for example, and be able to play the files fine.

steandric said on : February 24th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Thank you Akishore, but want to make sure I meant to join back only chunk001 and chunk003 into a new file to play back, WITHOUT chunk002. can this be done? Thanks again.

jessi said on : April 4th, 2008 at 3:52 am

MegaSplit ( http://byakugan.altervista.org ) its more easy and fast

masterofchaos said on : May 1st, 2008 at 8:13 am

i haven’t tried this before… how reliable is this?

SHRIDHAR TL said on : July 27th, 2008 at 2:22 am

Use “http://www.codeproject.com/KB/applications/splitfile.aspx#_top” to download a free copy of a file splitting utility “SplitFile.exe”.

BA said on : August 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am

This tool did not work on a 2.5 GB text file. It just said “done!” without even trying to do anything. argh

Danilo said on : May 28th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

I prefer Arduo File Splitter (http://www.arduosoft.com/index.php?q=node/10). It produces md5 checksum file to check if the merged file is good.
It is also fully portable (no istallation required).

Tin học: Chuyển tập tin lớn thành những tập tin nhỏ hơn « STeV3N - tHe pASSiON Says:

[...] Destination file: chọn nơi save file mà bạn đã nhập lại. Theo How to split a large file into multiple smaller pieces. [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Customize the right-click context menu in Windows XP and Vista Says:

[...] you can get that plus a ton more features using this program! If you’re looking for just a file splitter, you can check out a post I wrote a while [...]
December 26th, 2007 at 7:26 am
How to split up large files using GSplit Says:

[...] from http://www.gdgsoft.com/gsplit/, is a free application used to split large files into smaller files. These smaller files can be easily copied to a floppy disk or any removable media. It is also a [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Fix “File is too large for destination file system” error Says:

[...] can read my previous posts on using File Splitter or GSplit to split large files into smaller [...]
September 12th, 2009 at 5:37 am