What Is the OneDrive File Size Limit? Microsoft’s 2020 Updates

Due to the novel coronavirus, we have seen a massive increase in remote working, which naturally means that more people than ever are relying on cloud storage to share their files. Coinciding with this came an update and an announcement from Microsoft, bringing many long-requested features to OneDrive. In this article, we’ll be looking at the change to the OneDrive file size limit for uploads and what it means for users. 

Although the upload limit will be our focus here, the improvements don’t stop with the OneDrive maximum file size increasing. There are also new changes to sharing in Microsoft Teams, extra administration controls, a dark mode option for the web and improvements to help you search for files. These will benefit both OneDrive for Business and individual users, improving this service in many aspects.

The New 100GB OneDrive File Size Limit

Microsoft has raised the previous OneDrive file upload limit of 15GB to 100GB. This applies to everyone with a OneDrive plan, meaning all OneDrive for Business and personal plans will get the increase. You won’t even need to use the apps, as the change also raises both the OneDrive and SharePoint Online limits to 100GB.

This will please companies that need to store and share large files, since the OneDrive for Business file size limit has been a major problem for a long time. However, unless you’re storing large media files in the cloud, most people won’t be able to benefit much from this. Free users also won’t be impacted, as the OneDrive size limit for free accounts is still capped at 5GB.

Why Microsoft Increased the File Size Limit for OneDrive

After almost six years with OneDrive limitations set firmly at 15GB, the reasons for why this sudden change happened now is unclear. However, the recent implementation of block-level syncing for all file types — which speeds up the process of syncing large files — probably has something to do with it.

There is also an element of keeping up with the competition, as OneDrive has always been miles behind Google Drive’s 5TB limit or Sync.com’s lack of limits. However, OneDrive’s new limit of 100GB will be plenty for most people.

Final Thoughts

As Microsoft slowly reduces OneDrive’s limitations on file sharing, it inches closer to becoming one of the best cloud storage options. Whether you need to share large files, run your business on the cloud or just want the option to store some long 4K videos, this update secures OneDrive as an excellent storage solution for most people.

However, if the new changes to the Microsoft OneDrive file size limit still don’t meet your requirements, there are many other providers with higher limits. Find the best option for you by reading our article on cloud services for storing large files. 

Have you made use of the new OneDrive limits? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for reading.