Can Github repo be used as a free storage space?

[Kash1444]

I am new here

I created a repo for engineering notes recently "Engineering-Notes-Hub" and have been adding notes regularly,
So far it has reached 200 mb of space.
I wonder how much can it hold.
If it doesn't hold how can I upload new notes ?

[ankita1477]

Yes, to some extent — but with limits. GitHub is primarily meant for code and version control, not general file storage.

📦 Storage Limits:
Recommended repo size: Under 1 GB

Soft limit: GitHub starts warning you if the repo exceeds 1 GB

Hard limit (file size): You cannot push a file larger than 100 MB

Total repo size (unofficial cap): Around 5 GB — after that, GitHub may restrict functionality

You’re currently at 200 MB, so you’re fine — but it’s good to plan ahead.

🧰 What to do when you reach the limit?
Use Git LFS (Large File Storage) for PDFs and big media files.

Split your notes across multiple repositories — e.g., by semester or subject.

Upload large files to external storage (Google Drive, Dropbox) and link to them from your repo.

Compress files (e.g., ZIP) before uploading to reduce size.

⚠️ Caution:
Using GitHub only as cloud storage is discouraged and may go against GitHub’s Terms of Service.

It's best to use it for code, documentation, and version-controlled content.

[Kash1444]

Noted 👍

[ydv-manoj]

Adding to the answer provided by @ankita1477
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38768454/repository-size-limits-for-github-com
Here is a good article for you answering all your queries.

[ishtiuk]

Technically yes, but practically no — and ethically it’s a bit gray. Let me break it down:

---

💾 What GitHub allows (and doesn't)

• ✅ Under 1 GB per repository is fine — GitHub encourages this.
• ⚠️ Over 1 GB? You'll get warnings.
• ❌ Hard limit: No individual file can be over 100 MB (you’ll get a 403 error).
• 🚫 Unofficial repo size cap: Around 5 GB — after that, pushing/cloning may be blocked.

---

🛠️ Alternatives to "storage-only" use

If you're uploading PDFs, slides, or notes:

• Use Git LFS for large files:

  git lfs install
  git lfs track "*.pdf"

[Priya-C-016]

Hi there! Here is the answer to your question
Github repos have limit of 1 GB per repo but git recommends repo to stay under 1 GB and individual files should ideally be under 100MB. Github will block files that are larger than 100MB by default.
So, what you can do is
->You can split your notes into multiple repos
->Use git Large File Storage
->you can also upload you notes in .zip files and extract them when needed
->Upload your files to google drive or onedrive and paste the links in repo readme(for larger files)

[rdarshan927]

Technically yes, a GitHub repo can be used like a free storage space — but it's not really designed for that.

A few key limits to keep in mind:
Single file size limit: ~100 MB (hard limit).
Recommended repo size: Keep under 1 GB total.
GitHub warns or restricts repos >5 GB (and may flag your account for abuse if you're pushing binary blobs regularly).

For large file storage (like PDFs, images, etc.), you can:
Use Git Large File Storage (LFS)
Or better, consider using something like Google Drive or Dropbox for hosting and just link them in your README.

If you're just storing notes in markdown or text format, you're fine for a while. But don’t treat it like a cloud drive — GitHub’s for code, not your semester archive dump.