This article is about the file hosting service. For other uses, see
Mega (disambiguation).
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content policies, particularly
neutral point of view. (March 2014)
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2024)
Data on MEGA services are end-to-end encrypted[3]client-side using the
AES algorithm. Since MEGA does not know the encryption keys to uploaded files, they cannot decrypt and view the content. Therefore, they cannot be responsible for the contents of uploaded files.[4]
In the first few weeks after the MEGA launch, various security problems were found that researchers said an attacker could use to gain access to a logged-in user's files.[5][6][7] In response, MEGA started a vulnerability reward program, offering a reward of up to €10,000 for reporting security problems to MEGA.[8]
Additional TBs of storage or bandwidth can be purchased with no upper limit
Transparency
MEGA publishes an SDK[15] as well as source code of all their client applications[16] under the MEGA Limited Code Review Licence, a proprietary
source-available license which only permits usage of the code "for the purposes of review and commentary".[17] The source code was released after former director
Kim Dotcom stated that he would "create a MEGA competitor that is completely open source and non-profit" following his departure from MEGA Ltd.[18][19]
History
MEGA launched in 2013 as a cloud service with a tagline of "The Privacy Company".[20] On 4 July 2013, the MEGA Android application was released on the
Google Play marketplace.[21] Four days later, on 8 July 2013, the MEGA
software development kit (SDK) and
affiliate program was released.[22] On 26 November 2013, the official MEGA
iOS application was released on the
App Store marketplace.[23] On 20 January 2014, the official
MEGAsync application was released for
Windows[24] and on 6 September 2014, the official MEGAsync application was released for
Linux.[25]
In January 2016, MEGA announced that the service has 35 million registered users that have uploaded 12 billion files.[26]
In 2020, it reached a user-base of 195 million users.[28] This was also its first year turning a profit.[29]
In 2021, MEGA added a domain name to include Mega.io and Mega.nz.[30] The
.io domain was chosen to reflect the global nature of MEGA which has more than 200 million registered users in over 215 countries/territories.[30] MEGA continues to say that the .io pages are also more likely to be properly indexed by search engines than the current .nz pages, which are often incorrectly treated as only being relevant to New Zealand searches.
Later in 2021, MEGA shared their transparency report where they record 230 million registered users storing 107 billion files.[31]
Features
MEGAchat
In February 2013, MEGA announced it would be expanding into e-mail, chat, voice, video, and mobile.[32] In December 2014, MEGA said it would "soon" launch a
browser-based chat service.[32] In mid-January 2015, MEGA launched MegaChat in
beta,[33][34] marketed as a web-based, encrypted alternative to applications like
Skype and
FaceTime.[33][34]
Browser extension
On 5 September 2018, it was reported that the extension on the
Chrome Web Store was compromised by the addition of code designed to steal website credentials and cryptocurrency.[35][36][37] The original code on the GitHub page was not affected.
MEGA VPN
In December 2023, MEGA announced a new product to help users protect their privacy while online – MEGA VPN.[38]
^Stevenson, Rebecca (28 September 2020).
"Mega, the encryption company that wants to be everything". businessdesk.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021. Mega, the new company, was launched in 2013. And this time around the company wouldn't pay for popular uploads – depending on being a more traditional cloud storage service ... Mega's tagline is: 'the privacy company.'
^"MEGA". mega.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
^"MEGA". mega.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
^"MEGA". mega.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
^"MEGA". mega.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
^"MEGA turns 3!". 20 January 2016.
Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
^"Mega Limited". GitHub.
Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
^Stevenson, Rebecca (28 September 2020).
"Mega, the encryption company that wants to be everything". businessdesk.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021. Hall says the Kiwi company now has 195 million users. In March, when the covid lockdowns happened, user registrations jumped 60 percent almost overnight, Hall says.
^Stevenson, Rebecca (28 September 2020).
"Mega, the encryption company that wants to be everything". businessdesk.co.nz.
Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021. The company has also become profitable in the past 12 months - an important milestone although neither will give details on revenue.