Google updates file size limits for Gmail and YouTube

If you use Gmail or YouTube then you’ve got a bit more space to play with in terms of file size for both services this week.

Gmail attachments can now be 25MB; an increase of 5MB over the previous 20MB limit. That may be a small increase, but is welcome all the same. The message announcing the increase in the Gmail help pages is a bit cheeky when referencing sending mail to users of other e-mal services. The announcement states:

Please note that you may not be able to send larger attachments to contacts who use other email services with smaller attachment limits. If your attachment bounces, you should invite them to Gmail.

With the introduction of HD to YouTube the 1GB size limit on uploads was starting to look pretty stingy so Google decided to double it. The good news is you now have 2GB of storage to play with, but the bad news is video is still limited to 10 minutes in length. Why Google hasn’t seen fit to increase that isn’t clear, but HD uploaders should be slightly happier.

Google may be planning on a much larger file size upgrade for YouTube before too long. Barry Schwartz, who runs the Cartoon Barry Blog, has found out he can upload files up to 20GB in size from his account. Is this a bug or Google upgrading some users as a test? Only time will tell.

Read more at Google Operating System and Mashable

Matthew’s Opinion
Both those file size increases are going to be welcomed, but the YouTube upgrade is the more significant of the two. It shows Google do have plans to continue increasing file sizes at a more frequent pace. Remember YouTube was stuck at 100MB uploads until September 2008 before being increased to 1GB. Then less than a year later we are up to 2GB.

The 20GB account may just be a mistake, test, or a sneak peek at Google’s planned next file size upgrade. I don’t think they will jump straight to 20GB though; instead we may get a gradual 5GB, 10GB, and 15GB increases. Google’s backend is good, but rolling out 20GB uploads to everyone at the same time could cause chaos.

Does anyone have any ideas why Google would want to continue limiting video playback length to 10 minutes?