🗂️ Git LFS – Large File Support for Versioning Big Assets in Git

---

🧲 Introduction – Why Use Git LFS?

Standard Git is designed for tracking source code, not large binary files like images, videos, audio, datasets, or executables. If you try to version such files, your repo will grow quickly, become slow, and inefficient.

This is where Git LFS (Large File Storage) comes in.

Git LFS replaces large files with text pointers in your Git history, and stores the actual content in external storage, dramatically improving performance and scalability for large assets.

🎯 In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What Git LFS is and how it works
• How to install and set it up
• How to track, commit, and fetch large files
• Real-world use cases and best practices

---

🔍 What Is Git LFS?

Git LFS (Large File Storage) is an extension for Git that replaces large files such as media, binaries, and datasets with small pointer files in your Git repository. The actual files are stored in a separate location (like GitHub’s LFS server).

When you clone or pull a repo with Git LFS:

• Git retrieves the lightweight pointer file
• Git LFS downloads the actual large content in the background

---

🧰 How Git LFS Works – Behind the Scenes

1. You install Git LFS on your system.
2. You tell Git LFS which file types to track (e.g., .psd, .mp4, .zip).
3. When you commit:
   • A small text pointer is stored in your Git repo.
   • The large file is uploaded to a remote LFS server.
4. When you or your team pulls the repo, Git LFS downloads the actual file content automatically.

---

⚙️ Install Git LFS

🔧 For macOS:

brew install git-lfs

🔧 For Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install git-lfs

🔧 For Windows:

Download from https://git-lfs.github.com/

Then initialize:

git lfs install

---

🛠️ How to Use Git LFS – Step-by-Step

✅ Step 1: Install and initialize

git lfs install

✅ Step 2: Track file types or specific files

git lfs track "*.mp4"
git lfs track "*.zip"

This creates or updates a .gitattributes file like:

*.mp4 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

✅ Step 3: Add and commit as usual

git add .gitattributes
git add large-video.mp4
git commit -m "Add large video using Git LFS"

✅ Step 4: Push to remote

git push origin main

Git LFS will upload the large files to the LFS server and pointers to Git.

---

🧪 Real-World Example – Add a Dataset

Task: Add data.csv (200MB) to Git using LFS

git lfs track "data.csv"
git add .gitattributes
git add data.csv
git commit -m "Add dataset with Git LFS"
git push origin main

🔍 Result:

• data.csv content is stored in LFS
• A lightweight pointer file is versioned in Git

---

🔄 Cloning a Repository with LFS Files

git clone https://github.com/user/project.git

Git LFS will automatically download tracked files. If not:

git lfs pull

---

📋 Useful Git LFS Commands

Command	Description
git lfs install	Set up Git LFS for your system/repo
git lfs track "*.ext"	Track file types using LFS
git lfs untrack "*.ext"	Stop tracking a file pattern
git lfs status	Show LFS-tracked files and changes
git lfs ls-files	List files currently tracked by LFS
git lfs pull	Download LFS files after cloning
git lfs push	Manually push LFS files if needed

---

🧠 Git LFS Use Cases

• Storing high-resolution images (e.g., .png, .jpg, .psd)
• Tracking video/audio files in game or media projects
• Versioning large datasets in ML/AI workflows
• Managing compiled binaries and archives (e.g., .zip, .exe)

---

⚠️ Limitations and Quotas

Platform	Free Storage	Free Bandwidth	Notes
GitHub LFS	1 GB	1 GB/month	Additional usage is billable
GitLab	Similar, varies by plan	May differ
Bitbucket	Supports LFS via add-on	Pricing varies

Important: LFS bandwidth is separate from regular Git usage. Watch your quota if storing large assets!

---

✅ Best Practices for Git LFS

• Track only necessary large files (avoid overusing LFS)
• Always commit .gitattributes so teammates track the same files
• Use .gitignore to skip temporary or generated large files
• Monitor LFS quotas and bandwidth, especially on GitHub

---

📌 Summary – Git LFS

Git LFS is an essential tool for developers working with non-code assets. It keeps your repo size manageable while still allowing version control of large files like videos, datasets, or binaries.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• Git LFS stores large files outside Git history
• Use git lfs track to define which files to manage
• LFS improves speed, collaboration, and Git performance

⚙️ Real-World Relevance: Whether you’re building games, ML models, or media platforms, Git LFS is the cleanest way to version large project files without bloating your repo.

---

❓ Git LFS — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

❓ Is Git LFS free to use?
✅ Yes, but hosting providers (like GitHub) offer limited free storage/bandwidth. Exceeding it may require a paid plan.

---

❓ Where are LFS files stored?
✅ On the LFS server of your hosting provider (e.g., GitHub LFS storage). Only a small pointer is kept in the Git repo.

---

❓ Can I untrack a file from Git LFS?
✅ Yes:

git lfs untrack "file.ext"
git add .gitattributes
git commit -m "Untrack file from LFS"

---

❓ What happens if a teammate doesn’t have Git LFS?
❌ They’ll only get pointer text files, not actual content. Make sure all collaborators run git lfs install.

---

❓ How do I migrate existing large files into Git LFS?
✅ Use the git-lfs-migrate tool to convert files in history to LFS-tracked objects.

---

Share Now :