Email Attachment Too Large? Send It Another Way

Email was designed for messages, not big files. Providers limit the size of each message, and attachments count towards that limit. Gmail typically allows about 25 MB of attachments, and Outlook.com about 20 MB. Because attachments are encoded for sending, the file you can actually attach is often a little smaller than the headline limit.

Videos, design files, photo sets and audio projects blow past these limits quickly. For a wider comparison, see our file size limits reference.

The reliable fix is to send the file separately and email a download link. With Share Large Video Files we can send that email for you:

1. Open the homepage and add your files, up to 1000 files or a folder, totalling up to 20 GB.
2. Choose Email, then enter your recipients' addresses, your email and an optional message.
3. Enter the 6-digit code we send to your inbox to verify your address. This helps stop the service being used for spam.
4. Keep the tab open while the upload completes. Your recipients then receive an email with a download link.

Prefer to write the email yourself? Choose Link instead, copy the URL and paste it into a normal Gmail or Outlook message. The email stays tiny, so it will never hit the attachment limit.

Gmail and Outlook can offer to share big attachments through their own cloud storage. That works well if you already use those services, but the file counts against your storage, and sharing permissions can be confusing for recipients outside your organisation.

A transfer link is simpler for one-off sending: no account for either side, any file type, and the link expires automatically after 1 day, after which the files are deleted from our servers.

• Add an optional password and share it with the recipient separately, for example by phone.
• Choose delete after first download if only one person needs the file.
• Transfers use HTTPS, so files are encrypted in transit.

Read the security page for a plain explanation of what is and is not offered.

After sending, open the Transfers page to see download counts, resend the email if a recipient cannot find it, extend the expiry, copy the link again, or delete the transfer early. Files are delivered in original quality with no compression, so there is no need to shrink photos or videos to make them fit.

Sending mostly video? See how to send large video files.

When an attachment is rejected, people often try one of these fixes first:

• Zipping the file. This helps with documents and spreadsheets, but video, photos and audio are already compressed, so a ZIP is usually only slightly smaller.
• Splitting into several emails. It can work for a set of photos, but it is tedious, and a single large video cannot be split without special tools. Recipients also have to reassemble everything.
• Reducing quality. Exporting a smaller video or lower-resolution photos makes the file fit, but the recipient gets a worse copy.
• Using your own cloud storage. This works if you have enough space and are comfortable managing sharing permissions.

A transfer link avoids all of these trade-offs. You upload the original file once, the email you send stays small, and the recipient downloads the full-quality version. If you are sending to many people, one link can be shared with all of them, or you can add each address when choosing Email. Once everyone has the files, delete the transfer from the Transfers page or let it expire on its own after 1 day.