A low WordPress upload size limit stops you from uploading large files, plugins, and themes. If you're building a media-heavy website, that can be a considerable obstruction. It's necessary to increase the max upload size in WordPress or your server (or both) in such cases.

Depending on your hosting provider and server, there are many ways to go about solving this issue. Nosotros'll cover them all in this article and testify you how to increase the maximum upload size in WordPress chop-chop.

Let'south swoop in!

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What Is the Maximum Upload Size in WordPress?

Uploading big files to a server consumes a lot of the server's resources. To preclude users from causing server timeouts, the default maximum upload size in WordPress typically ranges from four MB to 128 MB. Usually, the hosting provider sets this limit at the server level.

WordPress too includes constants that define this limit, simply they cannot override the server-level settings in about cases.

To verify this, go to your WordPress site'due south Media Library. Here, endeavour to upload a file that crosses this maximum upload file size limit. You'll see an error message that looks something like this:

Error while uploading a large file in WordPress
Error while uploading a large file in WordPress

The "exceeds the maximum upload size for this site" error can be frustrating, simply it exists for two main reasons: security and efficiency. It hinders site owners and other users, including malicious actors, from uploading huge files (e.g. high-resolution images, large videos).

Otherwise, it can result in incapacitating your website's server, making your site come to a crawl. Or worse, it can bring your site down altogether!

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How to Cheque the Electric current Maximum Upload Size in WordPress

There are many ways to check your WordPress site'southward electric current max upload size. Let's go through all of them.

In the Media Library

The quickest mode to check your site'southward current maximum upload size is to go to your WordPress dashboard, and from there, become to Media > Library. Here, click on the Add together New push to activate the media uploader tool.

The "Maximum upload size limit" in WordPress
The "Maximum upload size limit" in WordPress

Equally Kinsta hosts this site, the Maximum upload file size: 128 MB. message displays beneath the Select Files button. If you're using a different spider web hosting provider, you may see a different limit listed here.

You can too go to Media > Add New directly and see the same message displayed at the bottom.

The
The "Maximum upload file size" in WordPress' Media Library

Once more, you lot tin come across the 128 MB max upload file size here.

In the Site Wellness Info

WordPress five.ii added the Site Wellness Info tool to aid you debug your WordPress site better. Here, yous tin can find near all the information about your server and WordPress configuration.

As both the server and WordPress handle the max upload file size, in that location are two ways to discover its value on this screen.

Kickoff, you can detect information technology listed nether the Media Treatment dropdown. Here, look for the value of Max size of an uploaded file constant.

'Media Handling' settings in the 'Site Health Info' panel
'Media Handling' settings in the 'Site Health Info' console

The second method is to look nether the Server dropdown. You lot'll discover many options related to your webserver'south setup under hither. Delight search for the value for Upload max filesize constant to see what it is. On this site, the max upload file size limit is 128 MB.

'Server' settings in the 'Site Health Info' panel
'Server' settings in the 'Site Health Info' panel

You can likewise see other PHP constants and their values, such as:

  • PHP post max size: Defines the maximum upload limit for POST requests.
  • PHP retentivity limit: Defines the memory allocated for PHP. It should be set equal to or college than the Upload max filesize limit. Or else the upload will neglect.

Your web host sets these options. Ordinarily, starter hosting plans will have a bottom upload size limit than enterprise hosting plans. Some hosts may allow you to override these limits. But in well-nigh cases, you lot may need your hosting provider'south assist (and perhaps a programme upgrade) to increment them.

Why Increase the Maximum Upload File Size in WordPress?

There are many reasons why you may need to increase your WordPress site'southward maximum upload file size. Hither are the almost mutual ones:

  • Y'all want to install a large theme or plugin directly through the WordPress admin dashboard.
  • Updating your WordPress site regularly is a great way to keep your readers engaged and return for more than. And that includes uploading new images, videos, audios, and other media regularly. However, that's non always feasible when in that location's a file size limit for your uploads.
  • Y'all desire to upload a large video or image as your site's background or header.
  • You lot programme to sell digital files such equally ebooks, photographs, videos, themes, and plugins directly from your site. Sometimes, these files can sew to hundreds of megabytes (or more).

Now that we've covered the basics of max upload file size in WordPress, let's learn how to increase it.

10 Ways to Increase the Max Upload File Size in WordPress

There are many ways you tin can fix the WordPress maximum upload size result. We'll start with the easiest ones first, and then we'll motion on to the intermediate-level tutorials.

Contact Your Hosting Provider for Help

If you're facing issues with uploading files and file size limits, reaching out to your hosting provider for assistance is one of the quickest solutions. Increasing the upload limit is a picayune chore for tech support, and so near hosting companies tin assist you fix this effect quickly.

Tinkering with your server or site configuration files can ever be a challenge. Hence, we always recommend you endeavor this method first.

If you're hosting your site with Kinsta, our knowledgeable back up team is only a click away and bachelor 24/vii. To get started, go to your MyKinsta dashboard and click the chat icon in the bottom right corner.

Contact Kinsta support easily through MyKinsta
Contact Kinsta support easily through MyKinsta

We have representatives to help you in many languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.

Increase the Max Upload File Size in WordPress Multisite

If y'all're running a WordPress Multisite network, then y'all tin modify the max upload file size for your network.

First, head to your Network Admin dashboard, and and so go to Settings > Network Settings screen. Here, scroll down till you find the Upload Settings section. You'll find the Max upload file size field in this area.

The 'Max upload file size' in 'Network Settings'
The 'Max upload file size' field in 'Network Settings'

The default value of Max upload file size in a WordPress Multisite is 1500 KB (~1.5 MB). Yous can change this to a higher value and click the Save Changes button.

Annotation: You lot cannot circumvent the server-level max upload size limit from hither. If the limit you set hither is higher than the server's max upload size limit, the server will ignore it. You can apply the methods described above to find your webserver's configuration.

The new 'Max upload file size' field in 'Network Settings'
The new 'Max upload file size' in 'Network Settings'

Here, we've set the new max upload file size to 131072 KB (~128 MB).

You lot can also limit the total size of files uploaded to an individual site in the Multisite network. However, information technology'due south disabled by default.

Update Your '.htaccess' File

If your webserver runs on Apache, you can update your site's .htaccess file to increment the max upload size in WordPress. You can find your .htaccess file in the WordPress site'southward root directory.

As per PHP documentation, 3 PHP directives are responsible for how WordPress handles uploads. They are:

  • upload_max_filesize
  • post_max_size
  • memory_limit

We've already discussed them in the Site Wellness Info department above. It would help if you modified these iii directives' values to acknowledge your file sizes. For instance, if the largest file you're planning to upload is 32 MB, nosotros recommend the following settings:

  • upload_max_filesize = 32M
  • post_max_size = 64M
  • memory_limit = 128M

Observe, all the values use M instead of MB. That's how PHP handles its directives.

Uploads tin contain extra data in addition to the file itself. And so, giving all other upload-related directives some animate space is a good thought. You can read our in-depth tutorial on how to improve PHP memory limit in WordPress for more information.

Access your .htaccess file via FTP/SFTP or your hosting provider's File Manager.

Finding the '.htaccess' file
Finding the '.htaccess' file

Open up the.htaccess file with a text editor or code editor, so add together the following lawmaking:

          php_value upload_max_filesize 32M php_value post_max_size 64M php_value memory_limit 128M php_value max_execution_time 300 php_value max_input_time 300        

You tin discover two other PHP directives in the to a higher place lawmaking: max_execution_time and max_input_time . They define how long a server spends on a single PHP chore. The bigger your uploads, the bigger the time spent volition be. You lot demand to set their values to a number that'southward appropriate for your apply example.

Note: You may get a 500 Internal Server Fault after using the method above. Nearly likely, information technology'south because your server is running PHP in CGI mode. In such cases, you cannot use the above commands in your .htaccess file.

Create or Modify the 'php.ini' File

The php.ini file is where you define changes to your default PHP settings. Typically, information technology contains directives that define file timeouts, max upload size, and resource limits.

Using SSH or FTP, you can find the php.ini file in your WordPress root directory. In some cases, you may not locate information technology there. Fret not! You tin create a new file with the same name in your site's root directory.

How to create a new php.ini file
How to create a new php.ini file

With a code or text editor, add the following code to your existing or new php.ini file:

          upload_max_filesize = 32M post_max_size = 64M memory_limit = 128M        

Don't forget to save your file after making the changes. Some hosts don't allow you to modify PHP settings via this method. In such a case, you tin can proceed to try the following solution instead.

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Create or Change the '.user.ini' File

If your hosting provider has locked down the global PHP settings, they may have configured the server to work with .user.ini files instead of php.ini files.

Like php.ini and .htaccess files, you can detect the .user.ini in your site's root directory. If yous tin can't observe information technology, and then y'all can create a new .user.ini file in the aforementioned location. Follow the same procedure described in the previous method to create a newphp.ini file.

Next, add together the following code to your .user.ini file:

          upload_max_filesize = 32M post_max_size = 64M memory_limit = 128M        

Yous'll notice that it'southward a echo of the previous method, except with a different filename.

Change PHP Options via cPanel

If your hosting provider uses the cPanel dashboard to help you manage your server and site configuration, you tin can modify the max upload file size through its interface.

To go started, get to your cPanel dashboard, and select the Select PHP Version under the Software section.

Click 'Select PHP Version' in cPanel dashboard
Click 'Select PHP Version' in the cPanel dashboard

Hither, you tin alter your server's electric current PHP version and enable/disable many PHP extensions. Click on the Options link in the navigation menu to go to the PHP Options panel.

Go to the 'PHP Options' settings in cPanel
Become to the 'PHP Options' settings in cPanel

Roll down here to modify the values of PHP directives such every bit upload_max_filesize , post_max_size , memory_limit , max_execution_time , and max_input_time . The max values you can set here depend on your current hosting programme.

The 'PHP Options' screen in cPanel
The 'PHP Options' screen in cPanel

If you have any doubts about these values, nosotros suggest you contact your hosting provider. The latest cPanel dashboard saves changes automatically, then you don't have to click anything. But if yous're using an older cPanel version, brand sure to click the Save Changes button.

Increase the Max Upload File Size in Nginx

Nginx is some other webserver similar Apache, but it's too a lot more. Typically, Nginx can handle more than concurrent requests than Apache, making it a lot faster. Kinsta uses Nginx to power its performance-optimized hosting solutions for WordPress.

If you're running your WordPress site on Nginx, you'll need to modify both your php.ini and nginx.conf files. We've dealt with the onetime file before. The latter one is chosen an Nginx config file.

On an Nginx server, you tin find the php.ini file at /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini . Depending on which PHP version you lot've installed, the verbal path may vary slightly.

          upload_max_filesize = 64M post_max_size = 128M        

You don't accept to set the memory_limit in the above file as Nginx handles it differently. For more, you tin can cheque out this Stack Overflow thread. After saving your php.ini file, enable the changes by restarting PHP-FPM using the below code in your terminal:

          sudo service php7.4-fpm restart        

Again, the exact code may vary slightly depending on the PHP version installed on your server.

Next, use Nginx'south client_max_body_size directive to set the new max upload size limit. You demand to declare this directive in the nginx.conf file, which yous can detect at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf .

You can declare this directive inside the http {...} block, the server {...} cake, or the location {...} block.

Setting information technology in the http block will affect all the sites/apps hosted on this server.

          http {     ...     client_max_body_size 128M; }        

Defining information technology in the server block will simply bear upon a specific site/app hosted by this server.

          server {     ...     client_max_body_size 128M; }        

The location block simply affects the specified directory (e.g. files, uploads) inside a site/app.

          location /files {     ...     client_max_body_size 128M; }        

Don't forget to save the file and restart Nginx to utilize the changes. To do that, y'all can employ the following control in your terminal:

          sudo service nginx reload        

If yous're a Kinsta customer, you lot can't access your Nginx config directly. However, you lot can reach out to our back up team, and they can quickly brand the changes for you.

Utilise the WordPress 'upload_size_limit' Filter

WordPress 2.5 introduced the upload_size_limit filter, which filters the maximum upload size allowed in php.ini. Even WordPress uses this filter to show you the max upload size allowed, like in the Media Library and Site Health Info screens.

Below is an example of this filter in activity from WordPress contributor Drew Jaynes. It defines the upload size limit for all non-admin roles.

          /** * Filter the upload size limit for non-administrators. * * @param cord $size Upload size limit (in bytes). * @return int (peradventure) Filtered size limit. */ function filter_site_upload_size_limit( $size ) { // Gear up the upload size limit to 10 MB for users lacking the 'manage_options' capability. if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) { // x MB. $size = 1024 * 10000; } return $size; } add_filter( 'upload_size_limit', 'filter_site_upload_size_limit', 20 );        

The above code uses WordPress' manage_options capability to set this limit merely for non-admins. You tin modify the code to target specific user roles or user ids. Read our in-depth WordPress roles and capabilities article for more information.

Utilize a WordPress Plugin

Messing with code using SSH or FTP/SFTP is not for everyone. If you're not comfy with writing or editing lawmaking, you can use a WordPress plugin instead.

WP Maximum Upload File Size plugin
WP Maximum Upload File Size plugin

We'll be using the WP Maximum Upload File Size plugin here. As of writing this, it's the but up-to-engagement plugin on the WordPress plugin repository that helps you go this washed.

To get started, install and activate the WP Maximum Upload File Size plugin. Side by side, become to its settings screen in your WordPress dashboard. Hither, yous tin see the maximum upload file size fix by both your hosting provider and WordPress.

WP Maximum Upload File Size settings screen
WP Maximum Upload File Size settings screen

Here, yous can see that the maximum upload file size set past WordPress is bottom than that set by your hosting provider. Hence, you tin can crank information technology upwards past choosing the Maximum Upload File Size with the dropdown presented.

Annotation: If you want to set a max upload file size limit that's larger than the one set past your hosting provider, it's not possible to do it via this plugin. For that, you need to contact your hosting provider.

Upload Files via FTP/SFTP

Are you still struggling with all the above methods? Or with your hosting provider to accept them raise the upload file size limit? You can e'er upload big files via FTP/SFTP.

FileZilla window with a site connected
Elevate and drop files to and for your server and computer with SFTP

If y'all have a lot of large files to upload, this is the fastest method. You can read our in-depth tutorial on how to bulk upload files to the WordPress media library for more data.

Sometimes, WordPress doesn't recognize files uploaded via FTP/SFTP. If that's the case, yous tin use the complimentary Add From Server plugin to import the uploaded files into WordPress.

Alternatively, you can practise the aforementioned direct from the command line by importing images using WP-CLI. The wp media import command allows you lot to create attachments from local files or URLs.

Don't Edit the 'wp-config.php' File

Editing the wp-config.php file doesn't work anymore. We're calculation it here because we've found many web tutorials that list information technology equally a legitimate way to increase the max upload size in WordPress.

It involves going to your site's root directory via FTP/SFTP or SSH then editing the wp-config.php file.

Finding the 'wp-config.php' file
Finding the 'wp-config.php' file

Y'all're suggested to add together the post-obit lawmaking to the wp-config.php file:

          @ini_set( 'upload_max_size' , '64M' ); @ini_set( 'post_max_size', '128M'); @ini_set( 'memory_limit', '256M' );        

Information technology fails to piece of work because you can only utilise the ini_set() part to set up PHP directives that belong to the PHP_INI_ALL changeable style.

As upload_max_size and post_max_size belong to the PHP_INI_PERDIR child-bearing mode. You can simply set them via php.ini, .htaccess, http.conf, or .user.ini.

If y'all've tried this method before without seeing any results, now you know why information technology fails.

Verify Your WordPress Site's New Max Upload File Size

Finally, it'due south time to verify whether the new max upload file size limit is implemented in your WordPress site. To do this, follow the same process we discussed above to check the max upload file size in WordPress.

Go to your Media Library in the WordPress dashboard and check whether the max upload file size limit has inverse.

Verifying the new max upload file size limit
Verifying the new max upload file size in 'Media Library'

Yeah, information technology has changed. That'south a success!

You lot tin can besides go to the Site Health Info console and check for the same nether Media Handling and Server dropdowns.

Verifying the new max upload file size limit in 'Site Health Info'
Verifying the new max upload file size in 'Site Health Info > Media Library'
Verifying the new max upload file size limit in 'Site Health Info'
Verifying the new max upload file size in 'Site Health Info > Server'

Don't let the maximum upload size in WordPress concord y'all back! 🙅‍♂️ This guide volition show you how y'all can hands increase the limit to accommodate your larger files 👇 Click to Tweet

Summary

As you've seen, increasing the maximum upload file size in WordPress isn't likewise complex. Whether y'all're edifice a media-heavy portfolio site or installing a large theme, it's just a affair of knowing where to look for and what commands or tools to use.

In about cases, reaching out to your hosting provider should exist enough. However, if you're stuck with a troublesome host, we've shown you some culling methods you can try before migrating to meliorate hosting.

Get uploading!

Did nosotros cover it all? If you've experienced a stubborn case of upload file size limits, let us know how you managed to set it.


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