File upload limits

[dm200400600]

I can see this question has been asked a lot in the community but it seems many of the replies contain links to documents that seem, to me at least, rather opaque.

In almost every article on the subject it states "Canvas does not support file uploads larger than 5 GB." but I thought the upload limit for a student for a submission point was 500MB? In what scenario would a student be uploading a 4GB document, for example?

Does the limit vary depending on what is being uploaded? For example would a PDF with an embedded video still only have a limit of 500MB?

I'm struggling on how to clearly relate upload sizes of files to students, other than, "a single file cannot exceed 500MB" that I think is the case, although not mentioned here? https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-upload-a-file-as-an-assignment-submission-...

[ethan-franks · Accepted solution]

Hello @dm200400600, 

Thank you for reaching out! Yes, you are correct that Canvas has an upload limit of 5 gigabytes for file uploads. The 500 megabytes limit is actually referring to media uploads: videos and audio. 5 gigabytes for file uploads; 500 megabytes for media uploads. This is because video files tend to be larger and can quickly fill upload student submission space in their user files. So to answer your question, yes. The type of file limit is contingent on the type of file. 

Hopefully, that will solve your issue, but let us know if you need anything else. 

Thanks! 

[dm200400600]

Thank you, the clarity is appreciated. I do find it frustrating this isn't more clear in the documentation, and feel a lot of guides, especially those intended for students or for tutors to relate to students could do with something like a FAQ, and maybe with things a little more complex than this some video scenarios.

For example without testing I'm not sure how it would handle rich media PDF, especially ones that might go over the 500Mb limit. And the student guide doesn't really get into files, media files and the default allowed types (if not restricted).

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @dm200400600 ...

One of the neat things about the Guides here in the Canvas Community is that you can suggest improvements that get passed on to the Canvas Documentation Team.  For example, if you go to the Guide that you linked to in your OP (Original Posting), you'll find a link at the very bottom of that Guide for "share your feedback" (below the two red buttons).  This is where you can suggest improvements in case anything is unclear.  The "share your feedback" link is located on all Guides here in the Community.  The Documentation Team will review your suggestion and make any changes if things are not clear or could be improved.

Hope this helps a bit!

[dm200400600]

Thank you, I'm aware of this feature of the community. I have taken advantage of the community comments on guides a few times, its great but it does tend to feel like they are going into a void. For example on an unrelated topic of Microsoft Teams integration there was a very long thread of issues from users dating back a long time that had gone unanswered and seemed to have had no action.

Never the less, thank you for your suggestion. 

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @dm200400600 ...

I understand.  The main difference, though, is that the Guides (like I mentioned in my earlier reply) do not have replies underneath them from Community users like you and me.  The Microsoft Teams topic that you mentioned probably has lots of replies from Community members.  While I cannot speak for the Documentation Team (I do not work for Instructure), my guess is that they may not be looking at those conversations as much because they are focused on making sure the Canvas Guides are up-to-date...and also reviewing suggestions we make to those Guides.  So, even though it may seem there isn't much action on something, it may be because it's a different team at Instructure that is reviewing content here in the Community...if that makes sense.

[PeteBerkhout]

Groups have a limit of 52 mb. Which severely limits assignments. I want my students to have a teams meeting and record it. Then upload the file so i can immediately evaluate their meeting. Now it looks as though i am forced to have them submit an URL or link which is more elaborate then this method.

Pity. Not happy.

[Chris_Hofer]

@PeteBerkhout ...

I can see how this would be frustrating. And, yes, 50 MB (not really sure why it shows 52.4 MB ... at least for me) is not a lot of space. The challenge I see with trying to upload a video file to group "Files" is that you're not really uploading that video to a media server so that video playback is better. Students would just be uploading their recording to "Files" as a normal file. However, what if students were to create a blank page in the group area, and then use the media upload tool to upload their recording? Would that work for everyone's needs?

How do I upload and embed a media file from my com... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

Or, has your school purchased Canvas Studio? (You'd see a "Studio" icon on the far left-hand side global navigation menu.) Your students could use Studio to upload the recording and then embed that Studio item in a page within the Group. This wouldn't use any of the 50 MB of file storage in the group "Files" area.

And, of course, there's always the YouTube option...where students could make the video "unlisted"...so that only people with the link could view it ... so it wasn't "public" for all to see.

Here's hoping that one of these options might be workable for you and your students. Keep Community members posted...thanks!

[Pi1WcGQS]

Our school teaches game development, so our student submissions are regularly in excess of 1GB, and can reach the 5GB limit.

My question is, is the 5GB limit per submission, or per student?
I'm seeing instances were an individual submission is, say 900MB, but it is failing to upload.

[deborah_oakley1]

I wish that Canvas had the ability to specify a limit to file sizes. Over and over I tell students they have, say, a 5 MB PDF file size limit and yet I have students submitting a single page over 100 MB.

I would like to have the ability to set an actual file size limit so that a student is disallowed from uploading files over that limit. That would go a long way to solving this issue. For those who have huge video files or something, the size could be set appropriate for that or, alternately, no limit.