Why do uploading websites restrict file size?
If you upload a file of 10Mb, it costs the website owners a little over 1Gigabit of bandwidth (let’s keep it to round numbers for clarity). That’s just for you to upload it. If 10 people now download that file, it costs the website owners 10Gigabit of bandwidth. Not only does it cost them in bandwidth, it also slows down the speed of the site for those people who are also uploading/downloading. Now imagine if you are uploading a 1Gigabyte file and, once you have uploaded it, 10 people all connect at about the same time to download it. Imagine the bandwidth used for JUST your file for JUST those ten people! Somebody has to pay for that bandwidth. And that’s why website owners who allow uploads put a restriction on how much you can upload. Not only because it costs them in hardware to store your files. But also because the multiple downloads of your huge files costs them just too much in bandwidth.
