You’re staring at the progress bar. It’s crawling. Whether you're trying to grab the Part I remake on Steam or finally seeing what the HBO hype was about on your PS5, a The Last of Us download isn't exactly a "blink and you'll miss it" affair. It’s huge. It's actually kind of absurd how much space Joel and Ellie take up these days compared to the original 2013 release on the PS3. Back then, you were looking at maybe 30GB. Now? You better clear out your drive because Naughty Dog isn't playing around with file sizes anymore.
The reality of modern gaming is that high-fidelity textures and uncompressed audio files come at a cost. That cost is your bandwidth. If you're looking for a quick fix or a "lite" version, honestly, it doesn't exist—at least not legally. You have to deal with the bulk.
Why the File Size for The Last of Us Part I is So Massive
Let's look at the numbers. On the PlayStation 5, the "Part I" remake clocks in at roughly 79GB. If you’re on PC, it’s even beefier, often requiring 100GB of free space just to initiate the installation process. Why the jump? It’s mostly the 4K assets. Every brick in the Boston Quarantine Zone and every blade of grass in the outskirts has been rebuilt from the ground up.
When you start The Last of Us download on PC, you aren't just downloading a game; you're downloading a massive library of shaders that your computer has to "pre-compile." This was the big drama at launch. People would finish the download, open the game, and then have to sit there for another forty minutes while their CPU screamed. It’s gotten better with patches, but it’s still a heavy lift for any rig.
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The Steam vs. Epic Games Store Experience
There isn't a huge difference in the actual bits and bytes between platforms, but Steam’s "Pre-allocation" phase can make it feel like the download is stuck. It’s not. It’s just your drive trying to make room for 100GB of fungus-infected mayhem. The Epic Games Store tends to display the download speed more erratically, which drives some people crazy. If you have the choice, Steam’s community shaders often make the post-download wait a bit more bearable.
Common Pitfalls During the Download Process
One thing that drives me nuts is the "Disk Write Error." You’ve waited three hours, you're at 98%, and then—boom. Everything stops. Usually, this happens because The Last of Us Part I uses a specific file-patching system that requires a bit of "buffer" space. If you have exactly 80GB free for an 80GB game, you’re going to have a bad time. You basically need a 10% to 15% overhead.
- Check your drive format: If you're on an older external HDD (God forbid) formatted to FAT32, the download will fail because that system can't handle files larger than 4GB. You need NTFS or APFS.
- The "Paused" glitch: Sometimes the download looks like it's at 0 bytes per second. Check your task manager. The game is likely decompressing files in the background. Don't restart the app; you'll just lose progress.
- Shader Building: I cannot stress this enough—let it finish. If you try to play while it's "Optimizing Shaders" in the bottom corner of the menu, your frame rate will tank, and your PC might actually sound like a jet engine taking off.
Technical Requirements Most People Ignore
We talk about the The Last of Us download like it's just about the internet speed, but the hardware matters just as much for the installation. Naughty Dog recommends an SSD. Not a "suggestion," really. It’s a requirement if you want to actually play the game without seeing a loading screen every five minutes.
If you’re downloading this on a Steam Deck, be prepared for a long night. The microSD card write speeds are the bottleneck there. Even if you have gigabit fiber internet, that little card can only write data so fast. It's a "start it before you go to bed" kind of situation.
Connection Stability Over Speed
I've seen people with 500Mbps connections take longer than people with 100Mbps just because they're on a spotty Wi-Fi 5 connection. The Last of Us files are delivered in "chunks." If one chunk gets corrupted because your microwave interfered with the router, the client has to re-download that whole segment. Use an Ethernet cable. Just for this once. It saves so much headache.
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The Difference Between Part I and Part II Downloads
It gets confusing because of the naming. The Last of Us download for Part II (the sequel) is actually slightly different in terms of optimization. On PS5, Part II is a PS4 game running in backward compatibility mode (unless you have the Remastered version). Interestingly, the Part II Remastered file size is actually smaller than the PS4 version in some cases because of the Kraken compression technology Sony uses on the PS5 SSD.
It’s a weird world where a better-looking game takes up less space, but that’s the magic of modern compression. If you’re choosing between versions, always go for the native PS5 version to save yourself about 15GB of drive clutter.
Is it Worth the Wait?
Honestly? Yeah.
There’s a reason people still flock to this game over a decade later. The download is the "price of admission" for what is arguably the best storytelling in the medium. But you have to be smart about it. Don't try to download it while you're streaming 4K Netflix in the other room. Don't try to install it on a nearly full drive.
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Actionable Steps for a Faster Setup
To get into the game as quickly as possible, follow this specific sequence:
- Clear 120GB of space: Even if the game says it's 80GB, the installer needs breathing room for temporary files.
- Enable Background Downloads: On PS5, put the console in Rest Mode. It actually allocates more resources to the download chip than when it's fully powered on and idling.
- Prioritize the "Ready to Play" marker: On PlayStation, the game will let you start the first chapter (the Prologue) once about 30GB is downloaded. This is a great way to kill time while the rest of the 50GB finishes in the background.
- PC Users: Update Drivers First: Do not wait until the game is installed. Update your Nvidia or AMD drivers while the download is running. The game uses specific Vulkan or DX12 optimizations that require the latest software to avoid crashes on the first boot.
- Check the Region: If you're downloading via a VPN, turn it off. Steam and PSN will throttle your speed if they detect a mismatch between your IP and your account region, making a two-hour download take ten.
Once that bar finally hits 100%, take a breath. Turn off the lights. Put on a headset. The opening twenty minutes of that game are some of the most intense in history, and you don't want to be annoyed by a "Shader Compilation" message or a low-space warning halfway through a cutscene. Just let the hardware do its job, and the game will do the rest.