Git Large File Storage (Git LFS) is a Git extension designed to manage large files without storing their contents directly in ordinary Git history. It is particularly useful for projects containing videos, audio recordings, artwork, datasets, archives or other binary assets that change frequently.
Ordinary Git repositories can become cumbersome when large binary files are repeatedly modified. Git LFS addresses this by replacing tracked files with small pointer files, while storing the actual content separately on an LFS-compatible server.
Developers continue using familiar Git commands to commit, push, pull and check out changes. The extension handles transfers behind the scenes, although file storage quotas, bandwidth allowances and server compatibility still depend on the hosting provider.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Manage large binary files through lightweight pointer files stored in Git.
- Store file contents on an LFS-compatible remote server rather than in ordinary Git objects.
- Track files and filename patterns using Git attributes.
- Automatic file downloads during checkout and uploads when pushing changes.
- Batch transfer support to reduce overhead when handling multiple large files.
- Selective fetching and checkout of LFS objects.
- Configure which files are downloaded during ordinary Git operations.
- Support for multiple remotes and configurable LFS server endpoints.
- Prune old local LFS objects to reclaim disk space.
- Verify and inspect LFS objects and tracked file pointers.
- Fetch selected revisions, branches or recent objects without downloading every historical asset.
- Support for authenticated transfers and integration with common Git hosting services.
- Migration tools for converting existing Git files into LFS-managed objects.
- Cross-platform support for Linux, macOS and Windows.
Website: git-lfs.com
Support:
Developer: Brian M. Carlson, Chris Darroch, Lars Schneider and many contributors
License: MIT License
git-lfs is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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