Assignments size limits

Please see an updated version of File size limits for Assignments in D2L Brightspace.  

Instructors: If you link to this resource from your instructional materials, please update your link(s) to point to the new version in D2L Content before January 07, 2027. 

What are the size limits of the assignments tool?

Individual files submitted to assignments must be less than 2 gigabytes (GB) in size.

D2L Brightspace imposes no size limit on the total size of an assignments folder.

Turnitin Studio

Turnitin Studio imposes its own size restrictions on files submitted to assignments folders.

If Turnitin Studio is being used with a particular assignments folder, then for that folder:

• Individual plain text (.txt) files may not exceed 2 MB in size.
• Individual files of all other types should not exceed 20 MB in size.
• Individual files must contain at least 20 words of machine-readable text. Text not in images, not in WordArt, etc.

If the e-rater component of Turnitin Studio is being used with a particular assignments folder, then for that folder:

• Individual files must not contain more than 64,000 characters.

How Turnitin Studio Handles Overly Large Files

Plain Text Files of More Than 2 MB

Turnitin Studio will reject file plain text (.txt) files larger than 2 MB.

Other Files of More Than 20 MB

Given a file larger than 20 MB, Turnitin Studio will either:

• automatically modify the file to reduce the file's size
• reject the file

Whenever possible Turnitin Studio will select the first option: automatically modifying the file to reduce the file's size. During this automatic modification, Turnitin will discard file content, particularly images and other non-text content.

If Turnitin Studio cannot automatically modify a file, or cannot reduce the file's size sufficiently using its automatic tools, then it will resort to rejecting the file outright.

Files of More Than 64,000 Characters

The e-rater component of Turnitin Studio will reject files containing more than 64,000 characters. This will not prevent other parts of Turnitin Studio from working with the files.

Handling Files Rejected By Turnitin Studio

Neither Millersville nor Turnitin support can override the rejection of a file. The file must be edited and resubmitted.