When you upload a file with Send, it’s split into smaller encrypted chunks before anything leaves your device. Each chunk is then stored separately, across different devices in the Hivenet network.
This process is called chunking, and it’s one of the key reasons Send is private, resilient, and fast.
Why chunking matters
Chunking improves security and performance in three big ways:
Your file doesn’t exist as a whole anywhere — not on a server, not on a user’s device, not even temporarily.
Each chunk is encrypted and meaningless on its own. Even if someone accessed one, they couldn’t make sense of it.
Chunks can be uploaded and downloaded in parallel, which often speeds things up, especially for large files.
How many chunks are we talking about?
That depends on your file size. A small document might only split into a few. A larger transfer — say 2 GB — could be broken into hundreds. But you don’t have to manage any of that. It’s all handled automatically by the system.
What if a chunk goes missing?
That’s where erasure coding comes in — more on that in the next article. (Spoiler: your file still downloads fine.)
Do I ever see or handle the chunks?
Nope. It’s completely invisible to you and your recipient. From your perspective, you upload a file → get a link → someone clicks and downloads it. Easy. But under the hood, chunking is what keeps it private and durable.