Kharola glacier is located at the junction of Langkazi County of Lhoka Region and Gyangze County of Shigatse Region in the Tibet Autonomous Region (latitude 28°54′23.30N - 28°56′50.95N, longitude 90°11′42.21E - 90°09′26.23E). The glacier belongs to a continental glacier with an average elevation of 5,042 m and is part of Noijin Kangsang Peak in the Lhagoi Kangri range. The 1972 - 2017 Kharola glacier dataset was developed by integrating several data sources: the Glacier Inventory Dataset produced in the 1980s by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, the Brahmaputra glacier dataset from the National Earth System Science Data Sharing Infrastructure (www.geodata.cn), Google Earth remote sensing images, and data from field investigations. The data processing was completed using ArcGIS and ENVI software to combine bands, do data design and perform manual visual interpretation. This dataset consists of 25 subsets of glacier vector boundary and acreage data from 1972 to 2017, reflecting the glaciers changing boundaries over the past 45 years. It can be used for research on the glacier changes and climate changes over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.