Discord has raised the maximum file upload size for free accounts, doubling the previous cap so you can share sharper photos, longer clips, and bigger documents without paying for a subscription. The change lands after years of requests from users who kept bumping into the old limit every time they tried to post a full-resolution screenshot or a short video.
Quick answer: Free Discord users can now upload photos, videos, PDFs, music, and other attachments up to 20MB per file, up from 10MB, with no Nitro required.
What changed for free accounts
The free tier limit moved from 10MB to 20MB for every attachment type. That covers images, video, audio files, and PDFs, so most phone photos and quick screen recordings now fit without cropping or converting them first. For anyone whose camera roll is mostly pets and food, that extra headroom means you can drop a higher-resolution shot straight into a channel.
Why desktop and mobile behave differently now
Alongside the higher cap, Discord changed how the limit is measured on phones. Previously, the mobile app could compress a file first and then check whether the result fit under the cap. Now it checks the original file size before any compression happens, which brings mobile in line with how desktop already worked.
The practical result depends on where you post from. On desktop, uploads should generally feel easier because the higher limit gives you more room. On iOS and Android, where files created or stored on the device tend to be larger to begin with, you may actually hit the 20MB ceiling more often. Some files that used to slip through after compression can now be rejected if their original size is above the limit.
Note: If a mobile upload fails, the reason is almost always that the file’s original size exceeds 20MB before compression. Shrinking or re-exporting the file at a lower resolution before you send it will get it under the cap.
How the new limit compares to Nitro
The bigger free cap narrows the gap with Nitro, but the paid tiers still offer far more room for people who regularly share large videos or high-resolution media. If you use Discord for work or move heavy files often, those higher ceilings remain a meaningful difference.
| Tier | Per-file upload limit |
|---|---|
| Free | 20MB |
| Nitro Basic | 50MB |
| Nitro | 500MB |
For most casual sharing, 20MB is enough to cover everyday photos, short clips, and documents without a subscription. For full game replays, 4K footage, or large project files, the Nitro tiers still carry the advantage, and cloud storage links remain the usual workaround when something is too big for any tier. Either way, your pet and food photos now have a bit more room to land in higher quality.
