AI file upload limits, and a way past each one.
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and NotebookLM each cap what you can add: a number of files, a size per file, or a total. The table below has every cap with its source. Drop your folder here and it comes back as one file, read in your browser, PDFs included, with its token count shown.
- No sign-up, no install
- Files not uploaded to us, not even PDFs
- One file back in about a second
Drop your folder here
Files, PDFs, docs, a whole folder. Read in your browser.
Every AI file upload limit, in one table.
Where a cap counts files, one combined file takes one slot. Where it counts size, the token count shows what to leave out. Each linked row has its own page.
| Where you add files | What it caps | Limit today |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT uploads | Files you send, in any chat | 80 every 3 hours, 3 a day on Free |
| ChatGPT, one file | Size and length | 512 MB, 2M tokens |
| A ChatGPT conversation | How long it grows | Not published; past it, a new chat starts empty |
| ChatGPT folders | What it opens | No folder upload; each file inside is its own upload |
| ZIP files | What gets read | ChatGPT may not unpack one; Gemini reads up to 10 files inside |
| A book or textbook | EPUB and long PDFs | EPUB not named by ChatGPT; Claude takes PDFs up to 1,000 pages |
| ChatGPT Projects | Files per project | 5 free, 25 on Go and Plus, 40 on Pro and above |
| Custom GPTs | Knowledge files | 20, until GPTs retire in December 2026 |
| Claude chats | Files you attach | 20 per chat, up to 500 MB each |
| Claude Projects | Project knowledge | The context window, not a file count; 30 MB per file |
| Gemini chats | Files in one prompt | 10, up to 100 MB each; one repository of up to 5,000 files |
| Gemini Gems | Knowledge files | About 10 |
| NotebookLM | Sources per notebook | 50 free, 100 on Plus, 300 on Pro |
| NotebookLM, one source | Size of a source | 500,000 words or 200 MB |
Figures as of September 2026, and providers change them often. Check the current cap in each provider's help center: OpenAI, Anthropic, NotebookLM, Gemini.
From a full folder to one file to paste.
- 1
Drop the whole folder
Drop in everything you want the AI to read. Subfolders come along, and you can add a repo or a link too.
- 2
It reads everything here
PDFs, Word, Excel, code, and notes are turned into text in your browser. Your files are not uploaded to us.
- 3
Paste the one file in
Copy the single file and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, with its token count already known. For a ChatGPT or Claude project, set Format to Plain and upload the .txt, a type both list.
One upload beats twenty
Adding files one by one runs into the count caps above and scatters them across separate uploads. A single file keeps every document together, in order, so the assistant reads the whole set as one thing.
Common questions.
- How do I share more than 5 files with ChatGPT?
- Combine them into one file first. Drop the whole folder into FileConcat and it returns a single file. You can add it to a Project or paste it into a chat, well under the per-project and per-message caps.
- Can I combine several PDFs or Word documents into one file for Claude or Gemini?
- Yes. FileConcat reads PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in your browser and pulls their text into one file. You paste that single file in, instead of adding each document separately.
- Do my files get uploaded to a server?
- Not to us. Everything is read in your browser, including PDFs and Office documents, and there is no account to create. The only upload is the one file you choose to send to the assistant.
- Does this work for NotebookLM, Gemini Gems, and Custom GPTs too?
- Yes. The output is one plain file, so it works anywhere you add sources or knowledge: NotebookLM, a Gemini Gem, a Custom GPT, or a Claude Project.
Get all your files into one, and past the limit.
The longer version of this job, with the three ways compared side by side, is how to combine multiple files into one. What each format keeps and leaves out is on the formats list.