Added in version 1.2.0: As of Syncthing 1.2.0 large blocks are always enabled and this configuration option has been removed.

Added in version 1.1.0: Syncthing version 1.1.0 and newer have large blocks enabled by default for new folders.

Added in version 0.14.48: Large blocks can be enabled in Syncthing version 0.14.48 and newer.

useLargeBlocks

useLargeBlocks is an advanced folder setting that affects the handling of blocks for files larger than 256 MiB. When enabled, the file will be indexed and transferred using blocks larger than the standard 128 KiB. This results in a smaller block list and thus lower overhead. The larger block sizes are powers of two from 128 KiB up to 16 MiB. Syncthing will attempt to select a block size to keep the number of blocks in a file between 1000 and 2000, using the largest and smallest block size accordingly at either extreme.

Compatibility

Syncthing version 0.14.46 and newer will accept and handle files with large blocks, regardless of whether large blocks are enabled on that device.

Syncthing version 0.14.45 and older will initially appear to accept files scanned with large blocks, but will later panic during some internal file operations. Do not enable large blocks in clusters with devices still on v0.14.45 or older.

When large blocks are not enabled, local changes to any given file are indexed in standard (small) blocks - regardless of whether other devices are using large blocks for the same folder.

When two devices do not agree on the desired block size for a file, the entire file must be transferred instead of only the changed blocks. To avoid frequent block size changes for files straddling a threshold boundary there is a certain elasticity or hysteresis built into the system. The block size of an existing file is only changed when the difference in block size exceeds one level, i.e., from 256 KiB to 1 MiB, but not from 256 KiB to 512 KiB.