A Brazilian modder claims to have reduced the install size of Grand Theft Auto V to under 2.5GB, down from well over 120GB in its current form.

The project, shared on X by @OptiJogos, is being called “GTA V Lite.” According to the modder, the goal wasn’t just to shrink the game files, but to see how much could be removed while still keeping the core sandbox functional.

The result is extreme. Almost everything outside the basic open-world framework has been stripped away. Story missions, cutscenes, most audio, interiors, GTA Online, and large sections of the map are gone. Even the North Yankton prologue, which alone takes up a few gigabytes, has been removed. Textures have been heavily downscaled, and only a small portion of Los Santos remains accessible.

Players are limited to Michael, with no character switching. Yet surprisingly, the game still runs. You can walk around, steal cars, interact with the police system, and trigger wanted levels. In other words, the sandbox remains, just in a very minimal form.

Opti demonstrated the build running at roughly 30FPS on a low-spec device, the kind of machine that would normally struggle with modern titles. It’s not pretty, and the visual fidelity is dramatically reduced, but it works.

Why do this?

For many players in regions where hardware prices are high and upgrades are difficult, the original version of GTA V is simply out of reach. Storage alone can be a barrier, not to mention GPU requirements.

This mod appears to be more of a technical experiment than a practical alternative. It shows how much of GTA V’s size is tied to assets rather than core systems. Strip away the cinematics, high-resolution textures, and online components, and what remains is surprisingly compact.

That said, downloading modified game builds always carries risks. Compatibility issues, missing features, and potential security concerns are worth keeping in mind.

Still, as a proof of concept, shrinking a massive open-world title down to 2.5GB is impressive, even if what remains is closer to a skeleton than the full experience.

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The post Modder Compresses GTA V to Just 2.5GB — and It Still Runs appeared first on Gizmochina.