wtf is copyparty?

copyparty is a self-hosted file server that you can run from a single Python script on almost any computer, turning that machine into a personal file-sharing server accessible from a browser or standard file-transfer client. The problem it solves is the need to share, upload, and browse files over a network without relying on cloud services or setting up complex server software. Because it is distributed as one self-contained Python file with no required dependencies, you can start a file server on a computer with just Python installed by running a single command. The feature set is unusually broad for a single-file project. It supports multiple protocols for accessing files: an HTTP/HTTPS web interface, WebDAV (which lets operating systems mount it as a network drive), SFTP, FTP, TFTP, and SMB. Uploads through the browser are resumable, if a large upload is interrupted, it picks up where it left off rather than restarting from zero. The server supports file deduplication (if you upload the same file twice, it stores only one copy), a built-in media player for audio and video, thumbnail generation for images, full-text and metadata search for music tags and file attributes, per-folder and per-user access permissions, zip downloads of entire folders, automatic service announcement on the local network (zeroconf/mDNS), and an Android app and iPhone shortcuts for mobile use. Files can be downloaded while still being uploaded, and you can set uploads to self-destruct after a time period. You would use copyparty when you need a quick, powerful personal file server for a home network, a NAS device, or any situation where you want to share or back up files without a cloud service. It runs on Python 2 or 3, is cross-platform, and requires no installation beyond downloading the single script file.