If you are trying to download a BitTorrent file that is larger than 4GB, you’ve probably seen an error message that says “Error: file too large”. This has nothing to do with your BitTorrent client you are using.

The file system used by Apple OS X is called FAT 32 and this cannot store files exceeding 4GB.

If you desperately want to download the file there are a couple of things you can do:

• If you are downloading a folder that contains more files for a total amount superior to 4GB, you can download few files at the time.
• Go to the file manager window, click on the file to select it, right-click it and select Don’t Download.
• Once you’ve downloaded the other files, you can resume the excluded one.

If the single file is larger the 4GB like if the screenshot, here’s the other solution:

• Get a USB stick or an SD card or an external hard drive capable enough to save the file. Move whatever you have in there that you want to keep on another location.
• Go to Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and select from the left side the drive (USB stick, SD card, external hard drive)
• Select Erase and from the drop down Format menu select ExFAT and  then click Erase…

Note that this will format the external storage unit and you’ll lose all its content.

Once you’ve finished, proceed downloading the big file directly onto the ExFAT formatted drive.