Dropbox streaming sync

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Introducing streaming sync: Even faster sync for large files

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Published on July 11, 2014

Content is the backbone of business today, and we create more of it than ever — so it’s critical that you have quick and easy access to all your files, whenever you need them. That’s why we’ve always invested in building the fastest and most reliable sync around, letting you and your team just get to work (instead of worrying about how to access your work).

Today, we’re excited to announce that Dropbox sync is about to get even faster, because the latest version of the desktop client now includes streaming sync.

Before streaming sync, file synchronization was split into distinct upload and download phases. This meant that a file needed to be uploaded in its entirety before other clients even began the download.

While this was pretty fast, we were determined to make large file syncing even faster. With streaming sync, we can overlap those phases and “stream” data through our servers to your devices. That means an improved multi-client sync time for large files.

In our performance tests, streaming sync was considerably faster:

 

This is particularly good news for our Dropbox for Business customers — like National Geographic, Valiant Entertainment, and BCBG — whose business depends on sharing large files. Whether your team is sharing high-resolution photos and videos or architectural models and CAD files, the sync speed for these large files will soon see a nice boost.

The newest desktop client is available here — and we’ll be rolling out streaming sync to those on the latest version of it over the next couple weeks. Happy syncing!