ChatGPT-5 File Upload Limits: Maximum Sizes, Frequency Caps, and Plan Differences

ChatGPT-5 file upload limits are defined by platform rules rather than the model itself. Limits are tied to storage, file type, and processing capacity, with variations based on subscription tier.

The ability to upload and analyze files in ChatGPT 5 is one of the most practical tools for both personal and professional use, but the limits you encounter are not determined by the model’s intelligence. Instead, they are imposed at the platform level, meaning the same constraints apply whether you are using GPT-4o, GPT-5, or any other supported model in the ChatGPT interface. The size of each file, the type of content it contains, the total storage available to your account, and your subscription tier all combine to set clear boundaries for how file uploads work in practice.

Maximum size per file varies by type and content.

Every file you upload to ChatGPT is subject to a hard size cap, which changes depending on the type of data it contains. Standard documents, spreadsheets, and images all follow separate thresholds. For most file types, the current ceiling is 512 MB per single upload. This applies to PDFs, Word documents, presentations, and most data formats supported by the platform.

For documents containing text, the system also enforces a token-based limit in addition to the megabyte size. Text-based files can contain up to 2 million tokens in a single upload — the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of words. This limit is measured after extraction, meaning that the platform reads the text content internally and measures it in token form before processing.

Spreadsheets have a stricter cap due to their structured nature and potential performance impact. CSV and Excel files are typically limited to about 50 MB, though the actual usable size may be slightly lower if the file contains large numbers of rows, complex formulas, or embedded images.

Images, which can be uploaded for visual analysis or reference, have a lower per-file limit of 20 MB. This ensures that uploads remain fast and stable across devices while still allowing high-resolution graphics and diagrams to be processed.

Upload frequency and storage quotas apply across all models.

Apart from per-file limits, ChatGPT enforces frequency caps on how often and how many files can be uploaded. Standard accounts can upload up to 80 files every 3 hours. This rolling window applies regardless of file type or size, and it prevents excessive bandwidth use on the server side.

For Free tier users, the cap is significantly lower: just 3 uploads per day, and these may be further restricted during high-traffic hours. This makes bulk document analysis impractical on a free plan, pushing heavy users toward Plus or higher tiers.

Storage space is another universal limit. Every individual account has 10 GB of total storage, while organizations on multi-user plans share a 100 GB quota. Once these thresholds are reached, older files must be deleted before new ones can be uploaded. The storage counter includes all files currently attached to your workspace, regardless of whether they are actively in use in a conversation.

Project-based limits change with your subscription level.

For users working inside the Projects feature — OpenAI’s structured environment for grouping files and conversations — there are additional rules that vary by plan. Plus subscribers can attach up to 20 files per project, while Pro, Team, Education, and Business subscribers can attach up to 40. The interface also restricts the number of files that can be uploaded at the same time to 10 per batch, regardless of tier.

Files linked directly from Google Drive, OneDrive, or SharePoint follow the same size and token rules as local uploads. This means there is no extra allowance for cloud-based files; the platform still counts them toward both your storage quota and your per-project file count.

Processing rules for Enterprise users are more advanced.

In Enterprise environments, uploaded documents are handled in a two-step process. The system first loads up to ~110,000 tokens directly into the conversation context. This is the portion of the document the model can immediately reference in its answers. Any content beyond that token threshold is stored in a private retrieval index, which the model can query when needed.

This method allows Enterprise accounts to work with extremely large datasets or long PDF reports without manually splitting them into smaller parts. For PDF files containing a mixture of text, tables, and images, the Visual Retrieval feature also extracts and interprets embedded graphics, charts, and scanned text, increasing the depth of analysis available in responses.

These limits remain constant between GPT-4o and GPT-5.

Although GPT-5 is more advanced in reasoning and analysis, the file upload rules have not been expanded specifically for it. All current size, frequency, and quota constraints are enforced at the platform level, meaning that moving from GPT-4o to GPT-5 will not increase the number of files you can attach, the size of each file, or the total amount of storage available to you.

The main advantage of GPT-5 for file work lies in its improved comprehension, reasoning, and integration with multimodal inputs — allowing more precise insights once a file is uploaded. However, the limits on how the file gets into the system remain identical across all models currently accessible through ChatGPT.

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