Maximum variable size allowed by the function is exceeded.

load('EEG.mat')

Error using load

Maximum variable size allowed by the function is exceeded.

I want to load my mat file, but it always report the error above. What should I do?

I tried matfile, it reported the same error.

[John D'Errico]

You don't say how much memory you have. You don't say how large the file is.

[JJJJJ]

2 variables:channel and voltage; 83902176 values

[Walter Roberson]

format long g
channels = 2;
values = 83902176;
bytes_per_value = 8;
needed_memory_bytes = channels * values * bytes_per_value

needed_memory_bytes = 
                1342434816

needed_memory_gigabytes = round(needed_memory_bytes/2^30, 1)

needed_memory_gigabytes = 
                       1.3

That should generally be okay unless you have a system with hardly any memory (for example might cause a problem on an old 32 bit MATLAB version.)

[Dyuman Joshi]

@Walter Roberson Could the limit on the MATLAB array size be causing this?

[Walter Roberson]

@Dyuman Joshi

I just created a 4 gigabyte variable, saved it in a -v7.3 fie, reduced my maximum array size preference and tried loading it. I got,

Error using load

Requested 1x4000000000 (3.7GB) array exceeds maximum array size preference (1.3GB). This might cause MATLAB to become unresponsive.

Related documentation

An error about "maximum variable size permitted by the function" rather than by "array size preference" or by "out of memory" usually means that somehow MATLAB thinks the data being loaded is larger than the maximum array size it can handle at all -- which is 2^48 bytes (256 terabytes) for 64 bit versions, or 2 gigabytes for 32 bit versions.

[Image Analyst]

@JJJJJ what does this say if you type it in the command window?

>> memory