Discord doubles free upload limit to 20MB — but Telegram still laps it at 2GB
Discord has quietly raised its free upload limit from 10MB to 20MB, giving non-paying users their first meaningful file-sharing bump since 2024. The change also lands a small but useful fix on mobile. Neither update closes the huge gap with Telegram's 2GB free tier, but if you've ever had a meme rejected mid-send, it does help.
The limit history
Discord's file cap has been a moving target. The platform raised it from 8MB to 25MB in 2023, then cut it back to 10MB in 2024, citing rising storage costs and infrastructure strain. Now, per Neowin, it's doubled again to 20MB — enough for most high-resolution photos and short clips, though still too tight for anything longer than a few seconds of video at decent quality.
Paid tiers are unchanged. Nitro Basic stays at 50MB per file; full Nitro remains at 500MB. At $9.99 a month, full Nitro still undercuts Slack and WeTransfer for heavy file sharing, but it's not a substitute for cloud storage.
Starting today, the free upload limit is increasing from 10MB to 20MB.
— Discord (@discord) August 13, 2026
We're also changing how that limit is checked on mobile, with file size now measured before compression instead of after, matching how desktop already works. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/JrL0igcoJL
The mobile fix
The more quietly useful change is how Discord's mobile app now handles oversized files. Previously, the app would compress a file first and only then tell you it still exceeded the limit — wasting time and battery. Now the size check happens before any compression, matching the behavior that desktop users have always had. The Discord official FAQ confirms both the new cap and the pre-compression check alignment across platforms.
The Telegram problem
The context matters. Telegram lets free users send files up to 2GB — 100 times Discord's new limit. For gaming communities, content creators, and anyone sharing screen recordings or raw footage, that gap is hard to ignore. Discord's strength has always been its server structure and voice chat, not file sharing, and this update doesn't change that calculus.
Still, 20MB covers the everyday use case: sharing a screenshot, dropping a short clip, or sending a PDF without reaching for Google Drive. For casual users, it removes one of the more common friction points. For power users, the math still points elsewhere.