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Canvas - Course Storage and Quota FAQ
What Is the Canvas Course Size Limit?
2 GB
Is there a Limit on Individual Files Uploaded to Canvas?
As a general rule, media files you and your students upload to Canvas should be 500 MB or smaller. Click here for more detailed information about file upload limits.
How Can I Determine My Current Course Size/Storage Usage?
Go to Settings > Course Statistics > File Storage
What Counts Against Your Course Size or Files Limit in Canvas?
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Files attached to ungraded discussions. Note that attachments added to graded discussions do not count against course size. In addition, audio/video files that are either recorded or uploaded through the Media Upload Tool in the Canvas Rich Text Editor do not count against course size.
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Files uploaded directly (by the instructor) to the course through Modules on the Home page or through the course Files area count against course size. Either way the files are uploaded, your files will appear in the Files area pictured below.
What Doesn’t Count Against Your Course Size or Files Limit in Canvas
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Embedded videos that were uploaded to My Media
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Linked videos that were uploaded to OneDrive (including Teams recordings)
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Linked Zoom recordings that are stored in the cloud
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Videos and other files shared from Office 365 (But this can be tricky due to permissions issues)
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Linked or embedded videos from YouTube, Vimeo, the Library, etc.
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Student submissions to assignments
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Graded discussion file attachments (ungraded discussion file attachments do count against course size.)
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Announcement file attachments
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Files uploaded to quizzes
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Instructor assignment Speedgrader feedback (file attachments and video recordings)
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Copies so files that were already in your other Canvas courses. For example, if you used a file in a course last semester and copied the course to this semester, the files copied from last semester would not count against the current semester’s course size because. Per Canvas support, to reduce the space a course takes up, the files that are copied into another course are "deep-linked" so the real file only exists once but has a unique link in the copied course. When copying course files from another course, they don't count toward the total storage quota of the new course
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Videos and audio recorded or uploaded in the Canvas Rich Content Editor These recordings and media comments created directly in Canvas are stored on a separate streaming media server and do not count toward your course's storage quota.
Rich Content Editor Media Record/Upload
Audio and video files uploaded or recorded through the Record/Upload Media button in the new Rich Content Editor do not count against Canvas course size or personal file storage space in Canvas. Note that there is a 500 mb per file size limit for media recorded/uploaded through the Record/Upload Media button in the Rich Content Editor.
Note that audio/video files you uploaded or recorded through the Record/Upload Media button in the new Rich Content Editor can be downloaded through links to the files that appear in the Course Files or User Files folders in Canvas.
Student File Upload Limits
Student file upload limits for assignments and discussions do not count against course size.
If students are doing a Media Recording submission for an assignment or discussion by either recording directly into Canvas or uploading to the Media tab, the file size is capped at 500 MB. These videos are embedded nicely and stream.
If students use the File Upload tab to upload files to an assignment, discussion, etc., instead, that is capped at 5 GB, but videos submitted this way won't embed or stream in Canvas. The instructor and classmates will have to download the video to view it.