CTL Blog

The New Online Library: File Uploads Up to 2GB in Size

January 25, 2022 | 1 Minute Read

The Online Library is receiving an overhaul. If you haven't read the previous entries in this series about why these changes are being made and what's new in this new version, please do so.

Large files take a long time to upload. Most networks are not designed for fast upload speeds. They optimize for downloading, which is the primary activity of nearly everyone using the Internet. As such, uploading a file — especially large files — can take a long time. The upload process utilizes resources on the destination server. If too many resources are consumed, the destination server (in this case, CoursePlus) can become unstable and cause problems for other people on the same server. This is the primary reason that CoursePlus has long limited the size of files that can be added to an Online Library. Originally set to a maximum file size of 50MB in 2010, the maximum file size for a file in the Online Library was increased to 200MB in 2019, and then again to 500MB in 2020.

The new version of the Online Library supports files up to 2 gigabytes (GB) in size. By offloading the upload process to Amazon Web Services’ Simple Storage Service, we avoid problems with large uploads directly to CoursePlus. This much larger file size maximum gives faculty and TAs more flexibility in the kinds of files they can add to their CoursePlus Online Library.

As we discuss all of the new features of the Online Library, please reach out to the CTL Help team if you have any questions!