GOOGLE is to double the storage limit on its free Gmail email accounts.
Google said the increase will not be the last from the company, which intends to make further free storage increases on its web email system as user needs expand.
"We plan on continuing this increase for the foreseeable future," Gmail product management director Georges Harik said.
Mr Harik said that "less than a few per cent" of Gmail users are bumping up against the current 1GB limit.
"We're doing it to anticipate what our users needs are and their needs grow over time," he said. The web search leader did not say how many Gmail accounts have been created.
Gmail, which is still in testing, is now offered only as an English-language service.
Consumers are increasingly using their email inboxes to store everything from work documents and correspondence to larger digital music, video and photo files. At the same time, the price of providing web email storage has been in steep decline.
Yahoo last week said it would begin giving users of its free web email service 1GB of storage, four times more than it had previously offered.
"We're hoping to remove storage as a concern for Yahoo users," Yahoo spokeswoman Karen Mahon said.
"At a certain point beyond 1GB it just becomes a number and irrelevant to most free email users," she said.
Yahoo Mail, available in 15 languages in almost two dozen countries around the world, gives users 2GB of storage for $US20 ($26) a year.
Microsoft offers 250MB of storage to users of its free MSN Hotmail accounts. Like Yahoo, it offers 2GB for an annual fee of $US20.
! Me and my friends like to swap "movies" using Gmail 