Project Size

In Scratch 3.0, projects on the Scratch website can only be shared if each individual asset does not exceed 10 MB and the project JSON does not exceed 5 MB. If a message appears saying that the project is too large, it may be helpful to try to compress or remove long sounds, like music. Also, if the project is in Scratch 1.4 or Scratch 2.0, the project can be opened in Scratch 3.0 and uploaded from there. There have been conflicting reports of whether projects are limited to 50 MB, but Scratch Team member Za-Chary has confirmed:

“	You can make projects larger than 50 MB total	”
– Za-Chary,

The Project could not save alert

Scratch 3.0

In Scratch 3.0, all assets must be under 10 MB, and the project JSON must be under 5 MB. There is no explicit limit on project filesize, but with the (otherwise) smallest possible project containing as many assets as possible, the largest a project can be while remaining within the explicit limits is 318 GB.

Scratch 2.0

“	We used to be stuck with the 10 megabyte limit due to limitations in Java. We hope to be able to extend this limit in the next version of Scratch - but server space costs $! Unlimited is too big, 10 MB is too little.	”
– Lightnin, a former Scratch Team member

The Scratch 2.0 File Format uses a more efficient storage system than the 1.4 file format, so projects took up less space than before. The limit on total project size in Scratch 2.0 was 50 MB, 5 times the 10 MB limit in Scratch 1.4, although projects uploaded from the 1.4 editor were still limited to the previous 10 MB. However, each individual "asset" (sound/image) must be 10 MB or less.

Not many projects were large enough to be affected by this limit, but this project is one that got close.

How to tell when a Scratch 1.4 project is too big

This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective.

If one is offline, then they will know when they try to upload a project to the Scratch Website; Scratch will display this error message when a file is too big to upload:

How to tell when a Scratch 2.0 project is too big

If one is offline, then the user will know when they try to upload their project to the Scratch Website; Scratch will display this generic error message when the file is too big to upload:

If the user is on the website, though, they'll know when their project is too large when they cannot add any more costumes, sounds, backdrops, or anything to it.

Reducing Project Size

Main article: Project Compression

The best way to reduce the size of a project is to compress the sounds and images. Below are some tips:

• Delete all sprites and scripts which are not used
• Delete variables and lists which are unused
• Use stamping and cloning instead of lots of sprites when possible
• Delete all sound files that are not used, as they take up a lot of space
• Use custom blocks to reduce script sizes
• Use vector graphics instead of bitmap graphics (especially for simple costumes like circles and boxes)
• Use lower quality images and sounds with lower file sizes

See Also

• Project Sharing
• Project Could Not Save