The popular cloud storage and file synchronization software Dropbox beholds quite a few useful features sets up its sleeves. Not only does it provide a handy platform to upload or download the file of your choice, its efficient file management system coupled with a streamlined file-sharing system has made it the go-to choice for a major chunk of the user base.
However, there’s a pretty common issue that many users seem to be getting bugged with. Whenever they are trying to upload or download a compressed file, they are greeted with the “Dropbox ZIP file too large” error message. If you are also on the same page, then this guide shall help you fix this issue. Follow along;
ReVerify File Limits
First and foremost, it’s important to be aware of the maximum file size that Dropbox permits for its uploads and downloads.
Download Restrictions
- Basic Account: 20 GB for downloading folders, maximum of 10,000 files.
- Plus, Family and Professional accounts: 400 GB
- Dropbox Business Standard accounts: 1 TB
Upload Restrictions
- File Size uploaded via Dropbox website: 50GB or smaller
- Via Dropbox Desktop or Mobile App: 2TB or smaller
So if you bypass any of the size limits, there are a high chance that you would get the aforementioned error message. Furthermore, do keep in mind that there’s no tweak as such that would let you bypass this limit.
One straightforward approach to fix the Dropbox ZIP file’s too large issue is to shell out some bucks and upgrade your current plan.
Apart from that, some other workarounds do exist that you may also try out and get the most out of these restrictions. Let’s check them out.
Method 1. Try out Dropbox Desktop Client
While the Dropbox website negates the need to install standalone software, yet this convenience comes at a cost. You could only upload or download ZIP files that weigh in 1GB or less.
To bypass this file restriction, you will have to switch over to its Desktop application, which would allow you to handle large compressed files, over 1GB in size.
- Download and install the Dropbox client onto your PC.
- Then launch the setup and proceed with the on-screen instructions to install it.
- Once Dropbox is installed, sign in with your account and it will automatically sync with the Dropbox folder on PC.
- Now that the integration is complete. All the Dropbox files are synced to the Desktop client.
- You can simply drag the zip from Dropbox Client on Windows Explorer menu to your Windows HDD/SDD Drive or copy-paste the zip from client to Windows storage.
- Likewise, if someone has shared the file with you, then you may easily access it right from your PC’s File Explorer itself.
There’s no denying that making a switch from Dropbox’s website to its app does call for a few extra steps. However, since it is usually able to spell out success in fixing the Dropbox ZIP File too large issue, this could well be your go-to method from now on.
Method 2. Split the ZIP File
This is a tried and tested method that comes with the maximum success rate. Here’s what you need to do. Let’s suppose Dropbox has placed a maximum ZIP file upload limit of 1GB.
However, your compressed file is well ahead of this limit. So, in that case, you could break this 1GB file size into two or more smaller ZIP files and then upload them individually. Here’s how;
- First off, download and install the 7ZIP Tool onto your PC.
- Now, you need to get hold of the uncompressed version of your file. If you don’t have it, then decompress the ZIP file via 7ZIP.
- When that is done, right-click on your file, select 7ZIP > Add to archive.
- Now refer to the Split to Volumes section. Change its Size to MB and input the value accordingly.
- For example, I needed to upload a 4.5GB file, and I had entered 500MB as the value of the individual file. So this, in turn, gave me 9 ZIP files of 500MB each, which I then easily uploaded over to Dropbox without any issues.
- So type in your values accordingly, rename the compressed files if required, and then upload them to the Dropbox servers. That’s it; via this method, you have successfully bypassed the file-size limitation.
- Now you can download the split zip file.
Method 3. Free Up Storage Space
If you are getting the aforementioned error message when trying to download a file, then chalking the next course of action shouldn’t be a tough job. The error translates to the fact that you are running out of Storage Space on your PC and hence there’s a need to free up some space. There are quite a few ways through which you could do so.
The more straightforward approach involves deleting the unnecessary files, moving files and folders to another drive, and deleting cache and temporary files. You may also use the Windows baked-in Disc Cleanup Tool to carry out this task. So try out these tweaks, free up the system space and the Dropbox ZIP File too large error should be fixed.
Method 4. Use DropBox in Incognito Mode
There have been a few instances where the file size was well within the limits, however, users were still getting this error. Turns out, the issue was due to a third-party extension. To verify if that is the case with you or not, consider disabling all the extensions or try browsing in an incognito environment.
The latter is an easier approach and would automatically disable all the extensions for the current session. So use the Ctrl+Shift+N shortcut keys to launch the Incognito/Private Mode and then try uploading/downloading the file, see if it fixes the Dropbox ZIP file too large issue.
Conclusion
So with this, we conclude the guide on how you could fix the Dropbox ZIP file too large issue. We have shared five different methods for the same. Do let us know in the comments which one worked out for you.