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Large files with Git LFS

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When to use it

Section titled “When to use it”

Git LFS is for binary files that change over time, such as design files, images, or videos. Source code never belongs in LFS: Git already handles text well.

Set up once per machine

Section titled “Set up once per machine”
Terminal window
git lfs install

Track a file type

Section titled “Track a file type”
Terminal window
git lfs track "*.psd"

Commit .gitattributes before the files it applies to, so Git knows to use LFS the moment the file is added.

Terminal window
git add .gitattributes
git commit -m "Track PSD files with LFS"
Terminal window
git add logo.psd
git commit -m "Add logo"
Terminal window
git lfs ls-files
Terminal window
git push

Working with teammates

Section titled “Working with teammates”

Every machine that works with this repository needs git lfs install run once. Without it, a teammate sees a short pointer text file instead of the real content. Cloning otherwise works the same as any other repository.

version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
oid sha256:4d7a...
size 102400

Move existing files into LFS

Section titled “Move existing files into LFS”
Terminal window
git lfs migrate import --include="*.mp4" --everything
Terminal window
git push --force-with-lease --all origin

This rewrites history, so pause the team before running it, do it on a fresh clone, and have everyone re-clone afterward. It is the one case where force-pushing a shared branch is the right call.

Git basics is licensed under CC BY 4.0: copy it, adapt it, keep the credit.