How to fix warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by Git in Git

What this error means

The "File is too large to be efficiently tracked by Git" warning indicates that you're attempting to add a file that exceeds Git's recommended size threshold (typically 50MB). While Git will still track the file, doing so is problematic because Git stores the complete file content in its history for every version. Unlike text files where Git stores only the differences (diffs) between versions, binary files like videos, datasets, archives, and compiled binaries must be stored in their entirety with each change. This causes several issues: repository size grows rapidly, clone and fetch operations become slow, and local disk usage increases significantly. GitHub and other hosting services enforce hard limits (100MB on GitHub) and will reject pushes containing files exceeding these limits. Even below these limits, large files in Git history cannot be easily removed and will permanently bloat the repository.

Typical symptoms

• Warning message when running 'git add' on large files
• Slow clone and fetch operations
• Repository size growing unexpectedly large
• Push rejected by GitHub with 'file size limit exceeded' error
• Long commit times when staging large files
• CI/CD pipelines timing out during checkout

Common causes

1. Adding binary files (videos, images, archives, datasets) directly to Git
2. Committing build artifacts or compiled binaries
3. Including large log files or database dumps in the repository
4. Not using .gitignore to exclude generated large files
5. Accidentally committing node_modules, vendor directories, or other dependency folders
6. Working with machine learning models or large datasets without Git LFS

How to fix "warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by Git"

# Find files larger than 50MB in your working directory
find . -type f -size +50M -not -path "./.git/*"

# Check what files are staged
git status

# See sizes of staged files
git diff --cached --stat

# List the 10 largest files in the repository history
git rev-list --objects --all | \
  git cat-file --batch-check='%(objecttype) %(objectname) %(objectsize) %(rest)' | \
  sed -n 's/^blob //p' | sort -rnk2 | head -10

# Add specific file
echo "large_file.zip" >> .gitignore

# Add file patterns
echo "*.zip" >> .gitignore
echo "*.tar.gz" >> .gitignore
echo "data/*.csv" >> .gitignore

# Remove from staging if already added
git reset HEAD large_file.zip

# Commit the .gitignore
git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Add large files to .gitignore"

# Build outputs
dist/
build/
*.exe
*.dll

# Data files
*.csv
*.json.gz
*.parquet

# Archives
*.zip
*.tar.gz
*.rar

# Media
*.mp4
*.mov
*.psd

# macOS
brew install git-lfs

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install git-lfs

# Windows (with Git for Windows 2.29+)
# Git LFS is included, just initialize it

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install git-lfs

git lfs install

# Track specific file types
git lfs track "*.zip"
git lfs track "*.psd"
git lfs track "*.mp4"

# Track a specific file
git lfs track "data/large_dataset.csv"

# Track files in a directory
git lfs track "assets/**"

git add .gitattributes
git commit -m "Track large files with Git LFS"

git add large_file.zip
git commit -m "Add large file via LFS"

git lfs ls-files

# Migrate specific file types in all branches
git lfs migrate import --include="*.zip,*.psd" --everything

# Migrate files over a certain size
git lfs migrate import --above=50mb --everything

# Migrate only in the current branch
git lfs migrate import --include="*.zip"

# Force push to update remote (coordinate with your team!)
git push --force-with-lease

# Team members must re-clone or run:
git lfs fetch --all
git lfs checkout

# Install git-filter-repo
pip install git-filter-repo

# Remove a specific file from all history
git filter-repo --path large_file.zip --invert-paths

# Remove all files larger than 50MB
git filter-repo --strip-blobs-bigger-than 50M

# Clone the repo as a mirror
git clone --mirror git@github.com:user/repo.git

# Remove files larger than 100MB
java -jar bfg.jar --strip-blobs-bigger-than 100M repo.git

# Clean up
cd repo.git
git reflog expire --expire=now --all && git gc --prune=now --aggressive

# Push changes
git push --force

# Check repository size
git count-objects -vH

# Verify no large files are staged
git diff --cached --stat

# Check LFS tracking (if using LFS)
git lfs ls-files
git lfs status

# Push changes
git push origin main

Advanced notes

# .git/hooks/pre-commit
#!/bin/bash
MAX_SIZE=50000000  # 50MB in bytes
for file in $(git diff --cached --name-only); do
  if [ -f "$file" ]; then
    size=$(wc -c < "$file")
    if [ $size -gt $MAX_SIZE ]; then
      echo "Error: $file is larger than 50MB"
      exit 1
    fi
  fi
done

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    lfs: true

*.psd filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
*.zip filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
*.mp4 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
*.mov filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
*.pdf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
*.ai filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

brew install git-sizer  # or download from GitHub
git-sizer --verbose

Frequently asked questions

What does "warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by" mean?

The "File is too large to be efficiently tracked by Git" warning indicates that you're attempting to add a file that exceeds Git's recommended size threshold (typically 50MB). While Git will still track the file, doing so is problematic because Git stores the complete file content in its history for every version. Unlike text files where Git stores only the differences (diffs) between versions, binary files like videos, datasets, archives, and compiled binaries must be stored in their entirety with each change.

How do I fix "warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by"?

This warning appears when you try to add a file larger than 50MB to Git. Large files bloat repository size and slow down operations. Use Git LFS or .gitignore to handle large files properly.

What causes "warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by"?

Adding binary files (videos, images, archives, datasets) directly to Git Committing build artifacts or compiled binaries Including large log files or database dumps in the repository

Is the "warning: File large_file.zip is too large to be efficiently tracked by" error serious?

It is a medium-severity error — more of a blocker than a risk. The steps above resolve it.

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Official resources & further reading

• 📚Git Official Documentation
• 📖
  Git LFS Official Site(Official Docs)
• 📖
  GitHub Docs: About large files on GitHub(Official Docs)
• 📖
  GitHub Docs: Configuring Git LFS(Official Docs)
• 📖
  GitLab Docs: Git Large File Storage(Official Docs)
• 📖
  Atlassian: Git LFS Tutorial(Official Docs)
• 💬
  Stack Overflow: Git error, need to remove large file(Stack Overflow)
• 💬
  Stack Overflow: Remove large file from commit history(Stack Overflow)
• 🔗
  BFG Repo-Cleaner
• 📝
  Baeldung: Remove a Large File from Git History
• 📝
  Remove files from Git history using git-filter-repo