I have a couple of .wmv files that I want to have available to clients for download but can’t load them onto my web server (long story, ridiculous reasons, etc.) I’d like to find a free file sharing site but when the client clicks the link to download the .wmv, I just want the file to download and not take the client to the file share site. Possible?
You can host them at Amazon’s S3 service for almost free (about 18 cents per GB IIRC) and can even make it look like it comes from your own site.
I use DropBox to share large files. The public folder permits you to create a link that can be downloaded from a browser. The URL still says dropbox.com/etc/etc/etc/ but you go directly to the file. A free account permits up to 2 GB of storage.
If you don’t need the files to be hosted for very long (say, no more than a few days), there are plenty of “pastebin” sites out there which provide this service for free. One I use is filebin.ca. You upload your file and it gives you a direct link to it.
Is your problem just that you want it to look like it’s coming from your site, or just that you want the download to happen immediately upon click? The latter is easy–just look around at web hosting providers. File hosting providers will take you to their site (although some will provide a direct link.) Web hosting providers are designed to host websites, so they generally don’t.
The main thing to look for is bandwidth–you need to make sure you have enough. WMV files are often assumed to be streamable. (People don’t like to wait for a complete video file to be downloaded before starting, and the shorter the wait, the better. That’s why Flash video became so common.) Not only may there be a speed cap while downloading, there may be a limited amount you are allowed to use a month.
(The latter is easy to fix with a little javascript and multiple sites, though.)