---
id: "chroma-context-rot"
title: "Context Rot: How Increasing Input Tokens Impacts LLM Performance"
creator: "Chroma"
creator_url: "https://www.trychroma.com/research/context-rot"
url: "https://www.trychroma.com/research/context-rot"
level: "advanced"
level_max: null
category: "context-engineering"
subcategory: "context-management"
region: "West"
license: "closed"
license_scope: "linked-resource"
models: ["any"]
source_date: null
date_added: "2026-10-18"
---

[Context Engineering](/context-engineering/index.md)

# Context Rot: How Increasing Input Tokens Impacts LLM Performance

by [Chroma](https://www.trychroma.com/research/context-rot)

[Read the original →](https://www.trychroma.com/research/context-rot)

Measures how output quality drops as input length grows.

The research investigates how the amount of input changes model performance. It encourages measuring the effect of extra context instead of assuming that a larger supported window means every detail is used equally well.

Level: [Advanced](/levels/index.md#advanced)
Models: any
Category: [Context Engineering](/context-engineering/index.md)
Tags: [context-engineering](/tags/context-engineering/index.md), [research](/tags/research/index.md)
Source date: date not stated
Added: 2026-10-18
Last verified: 2026-10-18
Status: ok
Prerequisites: Requires implementation experience or critical reading of technical methods and system trade-offs.
Subcategory: [context management](/context-engineering/context-management/index.md)
Region: West
Original language: en
Access: free
Resource reuse: closed: No general open-reuse grant established from the inspected page. Closed is the conservative index bucket, not a legal finding; the resource is publicly readable. [Facet definitions](/about/index.md#facets)

Summary in our own words. Rights remain with the original creator. [Credit and correction policy](/about/index.md#credit-policy).

[Plain-text Markdown copy](/context-engineering/context-management/chroma-context-rot/index.md)