Max real space in a varbinary(max) in SQL Server

Question

I am saving files (any type ) in a SQL table, using a varbinary(max), I find out that the max usage of this datatype is 8000, but what does the 8000 mean?

Answer 1

Implement SQL Server 2012 (codename Denali) when it's released - it has FileTable feature :)

• varbinary(8000) is limited by 8000 bytes - that's for sure!
• varbinary(max) is limited by 2 gigabytes
• varbinary(max) FILESTREAM is limited by your file system (FAT32 - 2 Gb, NTFS - 16 exabytes)