Public Hosting (Web Hosting)
Public Hosting transforms your Files.com site into a secure, globally accessible web server for files and static content. It can serve software downloads, documentation, media assets, forms, training materials, and other resources through simple HTTPS URLs, without requiring visitors to install software, use a specific protocol, or create a Files.com account.
Files remain in your Files.com storage, while the hosting URL gives visitors direct HTTPS access rather than the Share Link interface.
Each Publicly Served Folder can be open to anyone with the URL, restricted with a password, or gated behind your Files.com site login. Folders are configured independently, so a single site can mix open, password-protected, and login-required folders simultaneously. Public Hosting serves over HTTPS by default and can use a branded Custom Domain in place of the default hosted-by-files.com address, with no edge platform required. Edge platforms are there for cases that need more control, such as rewrite rules that route across multiple domains or regions.
Audience and Access
An open hosted folder fits public manuals, software releases, or brand assets. Anyone with its URL can access it. Enable index pages when visitors should browse the contents; disabling listings leaves direct file URLs available. A long, random URL is not an access control.
A shared username and password provides HTTP Basic authentication for a hosted folder. Everyone using it receives the same hosted access. The site-login requirement instead admits every active user of your site, including Partner Users. It fits training materials intended for that whole audience; it does not enforce the underlying folder's permissions or isolate one Partner's dashboard from another. Both gates can be required together.
For content whose access must follow individual, group, Workspace, or Partner permissions, use authenticated file access or an appropriately configured Share Link. Partner File Exchange explains the account-based arrangement.
File Types and Web Applications
Public Hosting serves any file type and MIME type, including HTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, images, videos, audio files, PDFs, and text files.
You can host a working web application in a Publicly Served Folder, not just static files. Because JavaScript runs in the visitor's browser, an app can fetch live data from any external API and render it dynamically without any server-side code on Files.com. Server-side logic and credentials belong on a separate system.
A reporting process can upload updated HTML to a stable filename through the API, CLI, or an AI tool using the MCP server. Review the output and its audience before uploading: files can become available immediately through the hosted folder. Request the HTML file's actual name; adding index.html does not make the folder URL serve it when index pages are disabled.
Enable HTML sandboxing when publishing HTML from people who should not be able to run scripts on your hosting domain. Sandboxed HTML cannot run a web application that requires JavaScript.
Public Hosting does not run server-side code. PHP, .NET, and JSP are not supported.
Public Hosting Domain
Public Hosting uses [subdomain].hosted-by-files.com separately from your site's primary domain. This keeps hosted content outside the browser origin used by your Files.com web interface and API, so it does not inherit authenticated access to that application.
Hosted folders on the same domain share a browser origin, even when they have different URLs or passwords. A page that runs scripts can read another hosted folder when the visitor's browser supplies the access required for that folder. Choose who can publish accordingly, or use HTML sandboxing or a folder served only on its own custom domain. Public Hosting explains these controls and their scope.
Permission Fences
Public Hosting has a Combine nested effect, so a subfolder cannot turn off inherited Public Hosting with the explicit-disable option. Adding a separate Public Hosting configuration at the subfolder also leaves the parent's URL available for that content.
A permission fence blocks Public Hosting inherited from a parent folder. The fenced folder and its contents are omitted from the parent's public directory listings and are not served when requested through the parent's Public Hosting URL. To publicly host content inside the fenced subtree, configure Public Hosting at the fence boundary. This is the same boundary enforced for a Share Link created above a permission fence.
Domains and Delivery
A Custom Domain provides a branded hostname without an edge service. Use an edge platform when you need additional routing, such as a stable download URL pointing to a versioned installer, or caching for repeated downloads. Public Hosting itself is not a CDN.
If browser scripts on another website need to read hosted files, configure CORS for that website. CORS controls browser scripts' access to responses; it does not replace authentication or prevent direct downloads.
Before distributing a URL, test direct file access and any directory listing as an anonymous visitor and as representative site users. This establishes who can retrieve the published content under the access gates you selected.