Common file size
limitations for archive formats
With
ever increasing size of disks and ever increasing number (and size) of
files, some archiving formats specs hit built-in standard limitations,
when
16 bit or 32 bit variables where used by some designs for indexing
archive content (number of files inside the archive, total archive
size) or the compressed or uncompressed size of single input files.
16 bit and 32 bit
variables limitations
|
2^16
files (64 K, or 32 K for bogus implementations using a signed short
integer) specification was common for variables representing maximum
number of files contained in the archive, i.e. in
ZIP format, with most standards recently switching to 2^32 (4 billions
files, 2 billions for implementations using a signed integer), i.e.
ZIP64 revision, exceeding needs of most personal and professional users.
With
2^32 bytes variables, 4 GB (2 GB for implementations using a signed
integer) was a common limit for maximum filesize, both size of single
input files (compressed, uncompressed size fields) and for total size
of the archive, as the 4 GB limit was a builtin restriction in most
common contemporary filesystems (like FAT32, and ISO). |
|
64 bit variables
limitations
With increasing demand for
larger multimedia and database files, and 32 bit size limitations being
removed in modern filesystems revisions, most archive formats
specifications switched
to 64 bit size variables for filesizes, allowing (theoretically) up to
16 EB (exabyte) -sized files / archives, 8 exabyte for implementation
using a signed 64 bit integer, exceeding foreseeable needs of personal
and professional users, and exceeding capabilities of most of current
operating systems and filesystem standards (or software
implementations).
|
Format |
Maximum
number of files per archive
|
Maximum
size of input file
|
Maximum
total size of the entire archive
|
|
7-Zip |
2^32,
max 4 billions files per 7z archive
|
2^64,
maximum 16 EB for each input file
|
2^64,
16 EB as max 7z file size limit
|
ARC
FreeArc
|
2^31,
max 2 billions files per archive
|
2^63,
maximum 8 EB for each input file
|
2^63,
8 EB maximum archive size
|
CAB
Microsoft
|
-
|
2^31,
maximum 2 GB for each input file
* file/archive size limits of Microsoft CAB
format
were removed in new WIM Windows imaging format specs
|
2^31,
size up to 2 GB per part; multipart cab files allows up to 2^16 64K
parts
|
PEA
current
format rev. PEA1.1 |
no
max input files number limit by design
|
2^64,
maximum 16 exabyte per each file
|
no
maximum archive size limit by design
|
|
current
specs revision RAR5 |
2^31,
max 2 billions files per rar archive
|
2^63,
maximum 8 EB for each input file
|
2^63,
8 EB maximum rar file size limit
|
|
current specs
revision POSIX.1 2001 |
-
|
-
|
No tar file size limit under current POSIX.1 2001
revision specifications
**8 GB maximum tar archive size for older
POSIX.1 1988 standard
|
|
original
PKZIP file format specs |
2^16, max 64 K files in a single zip archive
** 2^15 32 K files number limit for some bogus
software implementations of zip format specs
|
2^32,
maximum 4 GB for each input file
** 2^31 2 GB input file size limit in some
bogus implementations of zip specifications
|
2^32, 4 GB max zip file size limit
** 2^31 2 GB zip archive size limit in some
bogus
software implementations
|
ZIP64
PKWARE extension
of zip format specs |
2^32, max 4 billions files in zip archive
|
2^64,
maximum 16 EB for each input file
|
2^64,
16 EB max zip archive size limit
|
|
WINZIP
revision of zip standard |
2^32,
max 4 billions files in zipx archive
|
2^64,
maximum 16 EB for each input file
|
2^64,
16 EB max zipx archive size limit
|
Table1: comparison of known maximum file size and
maximum file
number limitations of
common archive formats
Self extracting
archives maximum size
Please note that sfx self
extracting archives, regardless the archive format employed (PeaZip
supports creation of .7z and .arc sfx archives) will be limited by the
specifications of the executable format itself.
Maximum size of a sfx
archive on Windows platform
Notably, Windows' .exe executables needs to be smaller than 2 GB, due
to signed integers (max 2^32 / 2 bytes) being historically employed in
the implementation of the format - PE and 64 bit Windows binaries can
address over 2 / 4 GB of memory, but max binaries size limitat still
applies to modern .exe implementation.
Maximum file size
limitations of different filesystems
To work
with very large files as allowed by modern archive formats
specification, it needs the underlying operating system and filesystem
to support same or
higher limitations.
With modern
filesystems designs, usually allowing theoretical 64 bit file
size (16 exabyte), the limitation is often in software implementation
of max file size and max volume size rather than in format design
itself - but unlike older 32 bit variables based designs, filesystem
limitations usually exceeds user's needs.
Common filesystem
are for example NTFS, default for modern Microsoft
Windows systems, FAT32 for legacy Windows systems, exFAT for USB flash
drives and SD cards (FAT32 and exFAT are popular on media that needs to
be shared between Windows, Linux, and Apple operating systems), ISO and
UDF for CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and other disk formats.
|
Format |
Maximum supported file size
|
Maximum allowed volume size
|
exFAT
Microsoft
|
2^64, theoretically 16 EB, practically 128 PB in
current exFAT implementations
|
128 PB limit by format design, max 512 TB
recommended for exFAT volumes
|
FAT32
Microsoft
|
2^32,
maximum 4 GB file size in FAT32 filesystem
|
up to 2 TB maximum size for FAT32 volumes
|
ISO 9660
|
2^32,
maximum 4 GB for each input file
* 2^31 2 GB file size limit in some
bogus implementations
** 8 TB max file size for ISO 9660
level 3 revision
|
2^32,
4 GB maximum size
* 2^31 2 GB volume size limit in some
bogus implementations
** 8 TB max volume size for ISO 9660 level 3 revision
|
NTFS
Microsoft
|
2^64,
maximum 16 EB file size in NTFS filesystem
16 TB max file size on Windows 7 NTFS
implementation
256 TB max file size on Windows 8 NTFS implementation
8 PB max file size on Windows 10 NTFS implementation
|
2^64 clusters limit by NTFS format design
256 TB max size on Windows 7, 8 and 10 1703
NTFS implementations
8 PB max size on Windows 10 1709 and later NTFS implementations
|
UDF
ISO 13346
|
2^64,
maximum 16 EB file size in UDF filesystem
|
2 TB to 16 TB maximum size (depending on sector
size)
|
Table2: comparison of known file size limitations of
common filesystems
PeaZip archive
size limitations
ZIP file size limitations
in PeaZip
PeaZip free archiver utility can read
/ write ZIP files
with newer ZIP64 specifications meant to transparently expand zip
format features, as well as powerful formats like 7Z, PEA, and TAR,
designed ground-up for managing large files compression and archiving.
RAR file size limitations
in PeaZip
PeaZip also supports extraction of RAR files
and of ZIPX files, which are
equally desiged to work on large files (over 2^32 4 GB / 2GB limit).
In any case handling such large files with any software utility, and
under any Operating System, requires working on a suitable filesystem,
like as NTFS or exFAT.
Alongsize archive / file size limitations and maximum input items
number limitations, learn more about how different archive
formats compares in terms of features, and how archive files work.
Synopsis: 7Z, RAR, TAR,
ZIP archive format limitations. Specs in terms of max size and item
number. Maximum number of files and folders allowed in a single
archive. Maximum size of file in archive. Maximum total size for the
archive. Filesystems limitatiosn for size and number of files.
Topics: maximum number
of items per archive, maximum size of files in archive, maximum total
size of archive for 7z, rar, tar, zip formats
PeaZip > FAQ >
Max file size limitations for 7Z RAR TAR ZIP archive formats
|
