Android 11 may let users shoot videos larger than 4GB

There are Android phones on the market today with 1TB of storage and the ability to shoot 4K video, but a software limitation means there’s still no way to record videos with file sizes larger than 4GB with them. That’s set to change in Android 11, according to XDA Developers.

You may not have noticed — Many Android users are probably oblivious to the file-size limit because they’ve never run into it. Depending on frame rate and other variables, 4GB of video at 4K is around 12 minutes of footage, and if you do shoot for longer than that on an Android phone it simply creates separate video files (each up to the maximum file size) which can be stitched together with video editing software.

But for those users who routinely shoot long, high-res videos, don’t want to have to wrangle multiple files, or are looking forward to shooting with the 8K-capable handsets that are incoming, it’s an exciting addition to Android.

It should arrive in March 2020 — The beta of Android 10 dropped in March of this year, so we’re expecting to see Android 11 beta around the same time in 2020, with a more stable release out around August.

For Pixel and Nokias, that is. As owners of Samsung handsets know all too well, there’s no telling how long they’ll have to wait for Android 11. The Galaxy S10, for example, only got a stable version of Android 10 last week. Note owners, meanwhile, are still waiting for it.