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1110 – Maximum Matrix Size by Platform
The largest matrix or array that can be created in MATLAB, together with the total workspace size (sum of all variables), on each platform is given in the table and graph below. It assumes that MATLAB has just been launched with no major processing carried out in a startup.m file and that there is unlimited system memory (RAM plus swap file) available. These numbers will be less if there is insufficient system memory available, usually due to the swap file being too small.
These measurements were carried out with MATLAB 7.4, part of release 2007a. Other versions of MATLAB may give slightly different results.
Note that on 64-bit platforms and on some 32-bit platforms in MATLAB Version 7.4 you can create arrays with more than 231-2 elements. However this was not officially supported until MATLAB 7.5. Also, MATLAB support for Solaris, which is a 64-bit operating system, changed from 32-bit to 64-bit in R2007a.
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Largest (Real Double) Matrix and Total Workspace Size by Platform (MATLAB 7.4, part of R2007a)
Operating system and configuration |
Total Workspace Size in MB |
Largest Matrix Size in MB |
Number of Elements in Largest Real Double Array |
Number of Elements in Largest int8 Array |
|---|---|---|---|---|
32-bit Windows XP |
~1700MB |
~1189MB |
~155e6 |
~1246e6 |
32-bit Windows Vista |
~1643MB |
~1428MB |
~187e6 |
~1497e6 |
32-bit Windows XP, best case, with 3GB switch |
~2700MB |
~1536MB |
~200e6 |
~1610e6 |
32-bit Linux |
~2683MB |
~2385MB |
~312e6 |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
MAC OS X running 32-bit MATLAB |
~2919MB |
~1532MB |
~200e6 |
~1606e6 |
64-bit Windows XP running 32-bit MATLAB |
~3155MB |
~2047MB |
~268e6 |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
64-bit Linux running 32-bit MATLAB |
~3558MB |
~2292MB |
~300e6 |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
Solaris running 32-bit MATLAB |
~3535MB |
~3072MB |
~402e6 |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
64-bit Windows XP, Linux or Solaris running 64-bit MATLAB 7.4 and earlier |
~<8TB |
16GB (double array) / 2GB (int8 array) |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
231-2 (~2147e6) |
64-bit Windows XP, Linux or Solaris running 64-bit MATLAB 7.5 and later |
~<8TB |
<8TB |
248-1 (~2.8e14) |
248-1 (~2.8e14) |
Largest (Real Double) Matrix and Total Workspace Size by Platform (MATLAB 7.4, part of R2007a)
* The value on the far right for 64 platforms running 64-bit MATLAB is not shown as it is many terabytes.
For an explanation of what determines the largest matrix, see technical note Avoiding Out of Memory Errors.
