> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/440) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 8.9.
Working with multiple people on the same file can be a risk. Conflicts when merging a non-text file are hard to overcome and will require a lot of manual work to resolve. File Locking helps you avoid these merge conflicts and better manage your binary files.
Working with multiple people on the same file can be a risk. Conflicts when merging a non-text file are hard to overcome and will require a lot of manual work to resolve. File Locking helps you avoid these merge conflicts and better manage your binary files.
With File Locaking, you can lock any file or directory, make your changes, and then unlock it so another member of the team can edit it.
