14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has introduced a new important update for its cloud-based storage service OneDrive, removing the 2GB file size restriction that forced users to upload items below this limit.
This modification is being rolled out to accounts across the world as we speak, so it could take a while until you are allowed to upload files bigger than 2GB.
What’s interesting is that although a company official confirmed the new change in a statement for TNW, no specifics have been provided regarding a new file size limit that might be enforced to OneDrive accounts.
“As we mentioned on our uservoice, we have started the work to increase the file size limit for all OneDrive accounts. We have started the process with a small number of customers and will continue to roll it out to our full customer base. We will have more to share on this update in the near future, stay tuned to the OneDrive blog,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Microsoft Group Program Manager Omar Shahine also added that the company indeed received requests from users to remove the upload limit, but is only now working to do so.
“It’s not arbitrary,” he explained. “It’s simply an old limit that we’ve been working on removing for far too long now. The good news is that we are actively working on this.”
Even though no other details have been provided, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft wants to keep close to Google and Dropbox, two of the companies that are already offering popular cloud-based storage services with bigger file size upload limits.
For example, Dropbox limits uploads to 10 GB, while Google Drive pushes them to no less than 5TB in the case of business customers. Even though Microsoft is yet to confirm whether it has a limit or not, expect the software giant to come up with something really big, in order to overtake long-time rival Google.
No-limit uploads are also possible, and the statement offered by Shahine might be living proof that the company is at least considering such a change. He indeed mentioned the term “remove,” which could actually point to uploads without a maximum file size limit, but on the other hand, the Microsoft spokesperson only talked about this change as an increase for all accounts.
Of course, the upcoming blog post on this should set things straight in this case, so we’ll keep you posted as soon as we find more details about the new limit.