Until now, Android applications have had to meet a strict 50MB size limit. Google have said that every megabyte you add to this limit, makes it harder for their users to download, and get started with their app, or games, or both.

Today, Google have increased this once puny 50MB limit to 4GB. Google also advise that the size of your APK file will still be limited to 50MB to ensure secure on-device storage, but you can now attach expansion files to your APK. Details on this are:

- Each app can have two expansion files, each one up to 2GB, in whatever format you choose.

- Android Market will host the files to save you the hassle and cost of file serving.

- Users will see the total size of your app and all of the downloads before they install/purchase.

Google also state that on most newer devices, when you download an app from the Android Market, the expansion files will be downloaded automatically, and that the refund period won't start until the entire download completes. This is great for people with slower net connections, where it could take them a few hours to download a 1-4GB file, and in that time, the refund period could run out.

On older devices, the app will download the expansion files the first time it runs, which is done through a downloader library which Google have provided on their Android Developers blog.