Is there a limit or recommendation on the size of the video which could be played without splitting?

E.g.: If I have a whole movie (size 1.2 GB, 1.5 Hrs duration) and would like to stream it, what would be the recommended way to do it?

In case of UGC sites like Youtube, where large vidoes are split into multiple parts and then uploaded, is this a recommended way of doing it if I am using brightcove or is it that the youtube kind of sites have limitation on the duration and size of the video.

Please suggest me which way is the better one.

1. Upload the full file (1.2 Gb & 1.5 Hrs duration) as a single entity.

2. split the file into multiple file each say 20 min duration and then upload them individually.

Regards,

Moin