You attached a file and the message came back with “message too large”, “552”, “size exceeds limit” or “attachment too large”. The limit that decides is not yours: it is the recipient’s server’s (or your own full mailbox’s). And there is a surprise: an attached file takes about a third more than its size, because e-mail turns it into text to carry it. An attachment that looks close to the limit has already gone past it.
Why it is returned
| Cause |
How to recognise it |
| The destination has a per-message limit |
The bounce talks about size (“message size exceeds”). The limit is not published and varies from server to server. Ask the recipient. |
| The destination mailbox has no room |
The bounce talks about quota (“mailbox full”, “over quota”). See the 550 and 552 errors. |
| Your own mailbox is full |
The copy in “Sent” takes room in your mailbox, just as the received copy takes room in the recipient’s. See your mailbox is full. |
| Webmail warns before sending |
It shows a size-exceeded message as you attach. There the limit is webmail’s and not the destination’s. |
Sending it anyway, in order of preference
| 1 |
Shrink the file. Photos: lower the resolution before sending. Documents: export to PDF with lower image quality. Zipping helps with text, but little with photos, PDFs and videos, which are already compressed.
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| 2 |
Split it into several messages, if it is a set of files. Each message has its own size; tell the recipient how many are coming.
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| 3 |
Send a link instead of the file. Upload the file to a folder on your site or to a file-sharing service of your choice, and send the address. The recipient downloads whenever they like, and neither mailbox fills up.
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| 4 |
If you use a folder on your site, protect it with a password or use a name nobody can guess, and delete the file once the recipient has it. See password protecting a folder.
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As a guide: once a file goes past a few megabytes, a link is usually safer than insisting. And if the recipient works at a company with tight rules, the attachment may be refused or held by one of their policies, nothing to do with size: in that case the link solves it too.
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A public link is public. Whoever has the address downloads the file, and a search engine can find it if the folder is listed. Never leave personal documents or contracts in an open folder: use the password, and delete afterwards.
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Agree beforehand. If you regularly send heavy files (proposals, photographs, plans), ask the recipient how they prefer to receive them. Many prefer the link, which also skips the spam folder. A general note on sending limits is in how to write an e-mail that does not land in spam.
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Got a bounce you do not understand? Paste us the technical text and tell us the file’s size.
Open a support ticket
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