A system and method to reduce the time to transfer files from one computer to another over a communications network, such as the Internet, by avoiding the synchronous timing limitations of current transfer methods. A file that is intended to be transferred from a transmitting computer to a receiving computer is partitioned into multiple synchronous block portions of the existing file, prior to transfer. Each block subportion of original file is compressed and queued for transmission to a target receiving computer. The compressed blocks are kept in a cue, encrypted, and transmitted asynchronously to a target receiving computer over a selected communications network. Upon receipt at the receiving computer of any of the transmitted blocks, blocks are decrypted, decompressed, and asynchronously reconstructed into the original file. Since the transmission of blocks to the receiving computer occurs asynchronously, as well as the transmission preparation steps, overall transmission times are improved.