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How many people can download a file I shared before getting an error?

Hi,

I have a file of 2 MB on dropbox and I am quite active on social media. In case of going it viral (it might have 100-500 people downloading it at the same time), how many people can download it simultaneously without getting a timed out request or other errors (related to dropbox api).

Thanks.

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Fearg

Hey,

You can find our policy on traffic restrictions on shared links here in our Help Centre:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/4204

Here's hoping to a viral hit!

stackflood

Hi Fearg. Thanks for the Link. Yes, the content is something directly from the wikileaks database.

20 GB/Day or 100,000 downloads/day. This looks good. But how these 100,000 downlaods are distributed over a day. On calculation , it roughly gives 100,000/24*60*60 ~ 2 downloads/sec. How and when throttling will come into picture ?

Rich

stackflood wrote:
How and when throttling will come into picture ?

As soon as you hit 20GB of traffic or 100,000 downloads within a 24-hour period, your share links (ALL your share links, not just the one that reaches the limit) will become disabled. Note that it's a 24-hour period on a sliding window, and not per calendar day.

Also, remember that Dropbox is not intended to be a content distribution service. It's meant for the occasional sharing of files with those people you know. You certainly can share links publicly, but if they go viral then you'll most likely run into these limits. If you do...

A first-time suspension for a bandwidth overage is 24-72 hours and will be lifted automatically. Each subsequent suspension lasts longer. If you're a Basic user, upgrading to Pro will also clear a bandwidth related suspension (because it increases your limit from 20GB/day to 200GB/day, or 100,000 downloads to unlimited downloads).

There are other reasons suspensions occur as well, and due to privacy concerns, the message will always say that it's bandwidth related. The file could have been reported as part of a DMCA request, it could contain a virus or malware, etc. There are many other reasons. In these cases, the suspensions are not lifted automatically and you need to contact Support.

Open your ticket here: https://www.dropbox.com/support
Track your ticket here: https://dropbox.zendesk.com

Replies take approximately 1 - 3 business days with Pro users getting priority (longer for Basic users).

stackflood

So, technically, as soon as 20 GB is not exhausted on a 24 hour sliding window, it doesn't matter if 100 or 1000 users are downloading the content at the same time ?

Rich

I've never seen a concurrent user limit mentioned.