Shoot a video, run a backup, create a virtual machine: there are all kinds of programs and operations that can create truly massive, multi-gigabyte files. And while these monsters remain on your hard drive, there’s no problem.

But if you want to back them up, perhaps share the files with others, then life could become a little more difficult. Unless, that is, you use a tool like Split Byte to separate your files into smaller, more manageable chunks.

The basic operation of the program is much as you’d expect. Point it at your oversized file; choose how many chunks you’d like (or set the maximum chunk size); click “Split”, and Split Byte will divide up the file according to your wishes.

But what makes Split Byte more interesting is its host of extra options and bonus features.

The program's basic functionality has been extended with lots of useful options

The program can zip up the file before splitting it, for instance, keeping the number of chunks to a minimum.

It can encrypt your data, too, useful if it contains confidential information.

And there are options to give the chunks the same timestamp as the source file, to delete the source file once it’s been divided up, even to then email those chunks to your preferred recipient.

Of course there’s also a Join function, which is just as straightforward (point the program at the first part, and it’ll find and attach all the others itself). And an MD5 Checksum function confirms that the split/ rejoin operations haven’t resulted in any corruption.

There are also some small annoyances here. The program is surprisingly large, for instance (it grabbed nearly 15MB on our test system). And the installer is extremely eager to equip your PC with browser addons and other “extras”, so be sure to pay close attention during the setup process.

Otherwise, though, Split Byte is a capable file splitter with some useful extra features, which could help to make those gigantic files just a little more manageable.