A system includes a sender computer and a recipient computer. The sender computer starts the chunking process by splitting a target file into chunks and providing signatures of the chunks of the target file to the recipient computer. After and in response to receiving the signatures of the chunks of the target file, the recipient computer splits the reference file into chunks, generates signatures of the chunks of the reference file, and identifies chunks that are common between the target file and the reference file. The recipient computer combines adjacent common chunks into larger chunks and creates, for example, MD5 signatures accordingly. The sender computer receives from the recipient computer information on chunks common between the target file and the reference file and provides a sequence of edit operations to the recipient computer to allow the recipient computer to reconstruct the target file.