How big is VALORANT?

Why the download and install sizes differ

The download is compressed; the installation is not. Game assets — textures, audio, models — ship packed and are expanded onto your drive, which is why the figure on the progress bar is smaller than the figure the folder ends up at.

Three other things are counted in the installed size and not in the download. The Riot Client is a separate application that VALORANT requires and installs alongside it. Vanguard, the anti-cheat, installs as a system-level driver. And shader caches are generated on your machine after installation rather than shipped, so they appear only once you have played.

That is also why an install can grow in the first few sessions without any patch having been released. The shader cache builds as you encounter maps and effects for the first time, and it settles once you have seen most of the game.

Why VALORANT is small for a modern shooter

Twenty-odd gigabytes is modest next to a contemporary shooter, several of which run past 100 GB. That is a deliberate design decision rather than an accident of scope, and it follows directly from what the game is trying to be.

The art style does most of the work. VALORANT uses stylised, flat-shaded art rather than photorealism, and stylised art needs far smaller textures to look correct. A photoreal shooter's texture budget is most of its install size; VALORANT simply does not have that budget to spend.

The audio is the other half. Realistic shooters ship large libraries of high-fidelity ambient and weapon audio; VALORANT deliberately keeps its soundscape sparse and legible, because a player has to identify a footstep by direction and distance. Fewer, cleaner sounds are both better for gameplay and much smaller on disk.

Riot has also been explicit that a low install size is itself a goal — the game is meant to run and fit on modest hardware, in regions where storage and bandwidth are genuine constraints. That is the same reasoning behind the low minimum specifications, and it is a large part of why the playerbase is as broad as it is.

Does the install size keep growing?

Yes, gradually. Every act adds agents, and most add cosmetics; maps arrive periodically. All of that is new assets on your drive, so an installation that started around 26 GB will drift upward over a year of patches.

It grows more slowly than most live games, though, because Riot also removes things. Maps rotate out of the competitive pool, and limited-time modes are pulled when they end. The net effect is a slow climb rather than the steep one a game that only ever adds content produces.

What each patch actually changed is on our patch notes page, which is the closest thing to a running record of what is being added.

What else you need besides the space

Storage is rarely the binding constraint. The specifications below are the ones that actually determine whether the game runs well, and they are unusually forgiving:

Storage — about 30 GB, plus headroom

Leave nearer 40 GB free. Patches download before they install, so both copies exist briefly, and a drive that is exactly full enough will fail mid-update rather than before it starts.

SSD strongly preferred, not required

The game runs from a mechanical drive but loads noticeably slower, and slow loading in a competitive shooter means arriving into a round already started. It is the single upgrade that most improves the experience without touching frame rate.

RAM — 8 GB comfortable, 4 GB workable

VALORANT's memory requirements are low by modern standards. Problems at 8 GB are usually caused by a browser and a chat client competing for it rather than by the game.

GPU — almost anything from the last decade

Integrated graphics will run it. The game targets high frame rates on weak hardware deliberately, which is why competitive players often run low settings on capable machines — it is not only about performance, it is about visual clarity.

Windows only

Vanguard requires Windows kernel access, so there is no Mac or Linux build and no supported workaround. This is a hard requirement rather than a gap waiting to be filled.

If you are short on space

Working down from the safest to the most drastic, these are the things actually worth doing when the install will not fit.

1. 1

   Check the real free figure, not the rounded one

   Windows reports drive space generously in places, and an install needs room for both the download and the expanded files at once. If you are within a few gigabytes of the requirement, treat it as not enough.

2. 2

   Move the install rather than deleting things

   VALORANT can be installed to a different drive. If you have a second drive with room, reinstalling there is quicker and less destructive than clearing 30 GB off your main one, and it costs you only the download.

3. 3

   Clear the shader cache

   The cache rebuilds itself, so deleting it is safe. It reclaims a modest amount and costs you slightly longer loads for a session or two while it regenerates — worth doing only if you are a couple of gigabytes short rather than twenty.

4. 4

   Clear Windows temp and update files

   Windows retains previous update files that often run to several gigabytes and serve no purpose on a working system. Disk Cleanup's system files option is the safe way to remove them and frequently recovers more than the game needs.

5. 5

   Reinstall rather than repair a broken install

   A part-completed or corrupted install can leave more on disk than a working one. If you have failed an install repeatedly, uninstalling fully before trying again clears the debris as well as the game.

If you are removing it entirely, our uninstall guidecovers Vanguard, which does not go with the game and is the piece people leave behind.