Which file should I use for a speed test?

A BIN sample. Its random bytes cannot be compressed, so the transfer you measure is the full size of the file.

Testing sample files

Generic binary and log files built for size limits, speed tests and transfer verification.

Formats in this category

Format	What it is	Sizes
BIN sample files.bin application/octet-stream	Pseudo-random bytes with no structure. The right file for measuring transfer speed and size limits.	1 KB to 10 MB
LOG sample files.log text/plain	Line-oriented text records of events. The samples use the web-server Combined Log Format.	1 KB to 10 MB
TXT sample files.txt text/plain	Unformatted text with no structure beyond characters and line breaks. The simplest possible upload.	1 KB to 10 MB
ZIP sample files.zip application/zip	The most common archive format: many files compressed individually in one container.	1 KB to 10 MB

About these files

Sometimes the content of a file does not matter at all: you need exactly ten megabytes to prove that a limit is enforced, or incompressible bytes to measure a connection honestly.

The BIN samples are pure pseudo-random data for that purpose. The LOG samples are realistic access logs for testing anything that reads line-oriented text at volume.

Ready-made samples

Hand-designed files with realistic content or a specific edge case.

Curated sample files: Testing
File	Format	Size	Contents	Download
Sample web server access log (500 lines)sample-access.log	LOG	80.2 KB82,141 bytes	Lines: 500	Download LOG

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Or browse every format at one size: 1 KB, 5 KB, 10 KB, 25 KB, 50 KB, 100 KB, 500 KB, 1 MB, 5 MB, 10 MB.

What to test

File size testing
Files built to exact byte counts for testing limits precisely, including the boundary itself.
Download testing
Files of exact size for testing download speed, range requests, resuming and integrity.
Performance testing
Large, predictable inputs for measuring throughput, memory use and processing time.

Related categories

Testing files: questions

Which file should I use for a speed test?: A BIN sample. Its random bytes cannot be compressed, so the transfer you measure is the full size of the file.