This article explains how to upload documents and images to Claude, including supported file types, size limits, and how to get started.
Supported File Types
Documents
Claude can work with the following document types:
PDF
DOCX
CSV
TXT
HTML
ODT
RTF
EPUB
JSON
XLSX*
Note: You must enable Upgraded file creation and analysis in your account to upload XLSX files.
Images
Claude supports the following image formats:
JPEG
PNG
GIF
WebP
How to upload files
You can upload files to Claude in several ways:
Click the "+" button in the lower left corner of the chat box
Select "Add files or photos" from the menu.
Choose files from your device for upload.
Click "Open" to attach the files, or drag and drop the files directly into the chat window.
You can also copy images and paste them from your clipboard into Claude.
Files can be uploaded to individual chats or uploaded to a project's Files section for persistent reference across conversations.
File Limits
Chat uploads
File size: 30MB per file
Number of files: Up to 20 files per chat
Image dimensions: Up to 8000x8000 pixels
Project files
File size: 30MB per file
Number of files: Unlimited, but total content must fit within Claude's context window
Content type: Text extraction only (except for multimodal PDFs)
Note: Additional token limits may apply based on the length of extracted content.
PDF Processing
Claude models can analyze both text and visual elements (like images, charts, and graphics) in PDFs that are under 100 pages. Claude will only process text from PDFs over 1000 pages.
Tips for Best Results
For images: Use images that are 1000x1000 pixels or larger. Avoid small or low-resolution images where possible.
For PDFs: When referring to specific pages, use the PDF page numbers as shown in your PDF viewer, not the page numbers printed on the document itself.
For large documents: If you're working with larger files, consider dividing them into smaller sections to stay within limits.
For non-PDF documents: Claude extracts text only from these files. If they contain embedded images, Claude won't be able to read or interpret them.