Microsoft Increases OneDrive Max File Size to 250 GB

• Microsoft has bumped up the maximum file size limit for the “365” services.
• It is now taken to 250 GB, covering the needs of those who work from home or engage in remote learning.
• A new age brings new requirements, and the situation is accelerating the upgrades that are practically possible.

Microsoft welcomes 2021 with a bump in the maximum file size allowed on Microsoft 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. So, from the 100 GB that it was previously, it is now taken to a whopping 250 GB, which should be enough to accommodate most people’s needs today. As Microsoft clarifies, the reason for this decision comes from the fact that we have entered a new reality of remote work and learning, so many users need to share much larger files than what they were uploading previously.

Examples of that include 4K and 8K video, large 3D models, complex CAD files, voluminous scientific data sets, etc. For some users, sharing the above is a matter of maintaining productivity and collaborating with their colleagues or partners effectively. But the new limit doesn’t only concern professionals. Even if you’re using OneDrive for personal purposes, uploading your entire family video album and share access with friends and relatives would now be entirely possible.

Interestingly, Microsoft’s post even mentions the example of a zip file containing a large PC, uploading it onto OneDrive to share it with your friends. We’re sure that Microsoft didn’t have piracy in mind when writing that down, but it definitely sounds like, well - normalizing the sharing of software, so to speak.

While the community around Microsoft 365 has welcomed this news, the users are still urging Microsoft to do more work on the upload/download speeds, as this is what hurts them the most. Also, many would like to see the cap of the max storage size per account go up too, and others are asking for the lifting of the restrictions that underpin the file copy/move operations.

This is the third upgrade step for Microsoft 365, as the service started with a file size limit of 2 GB, then went to 15 GB, then 100 GB, and now to 250 GB. If that tells us anything, it’s that tech has gone a long way in general, as what we’re discussing here involves data rate throughput, internet connection speeds, and what file sizes are considered “typical” in a workplace environment.