Before uploading, resize photos so the longer side is about 2,000 pixels; that suits visitors and stays under most limits. If uploads still fail, ask your host to raise the file size and memory limits.

The upload that stops halfway

A deck builder finishes a cedar deck with glass railings and takes forty photos with a good camera. That evening, the office manager selects them all in the website's media library and starts the upload.

Some show a message saying the file exceeds the maximum upload size. Others show only HTTP error. A few sit at a progress bar that never moves, and a handful go through.

Nothing is wrong with the photos. They are larger than the server was set up to accept, or larger than it can process.

The limits every upload meets

Shared hosting puts several limits on what a website can receive at once, and an upload can fail at any of them:

The web server in front of the site can set its own cap on request size as well. Whichever limit is smallest is the one that stops you.

Where the limits are set

Most of these limits live in the PHP settings on the server, which the host controls. Many hosts let each account change some of them through the control panel or a small settings file.

The website cannot exceed them. WordPress shows the current figure under the upload box on its Add New media screen, labelled Maximum upload file size, which is a quick way to see where you stand.

Advice online often suggests adding lines to the .htaccess file. That works on some servers and brings the whole site down with an error on others, so leave it to the host or a developer.

Why the messages differ

A file over the per-file limit is refused with a clear message. A request over the total limit is thrown away before the site sees it, so the upload can end with no useful message at all.

HTTP error usually means the file arrived but the server failed while working on it, most often by running out of memory or time while resizing a large photo.

Write down the exact message for each failed file. It tells the host which limit to look at.

What a camera photo carries

A photo from a modern camera or phone is often 3,000 to 6,000 pixels across, and several megabytes. Even a full-width photo on a large screen needs only about 2,000.

Making smaller copies takes far more memory than the file's size on disk, because the server unpacks every pixel. A file of a few megabytes can need many times that while it is resized.

Phone photos can also carry the exact location where they were taken. For a project photo, that location is the customer's home.

A worked example

An auto upholstery shop re-covers seats, headliners and convertible tops for classic cars and boats, and shows each finished job in a gallery on its website. The owner photographs every job with a digital SLR.

After a full leather interior for a vintage convertible, most of sixty photos failed, some with the maximum upload size message and the rest with HTTP error.

The host confirmed the account still had the 2 MB default, and that its memory limit was too low to resize files from that camera even if they got through.

The shop now runs each batch through a resizing step on the office computer: 2,000 pixels on the long side, good quality, location data removed. Each file comes out at a few hundred kilobytes.

The host raised the per-file limit to 8 MB and the memory limit with it, leaving room for the odd larger image. Small files arrive quickly, and the server has the memory to make its copies.

Resizing before upload

Resizing first is better for visitors as well as the server. Phones download a photo sized for a screen, gallery pages appear sooner, and the hosting account fills more slowly.

Most photo programs can resize a whole folder in one step. Save the size and quality as a preset, so whoever uploads uses the same settings every time.

Keep the full-size originals on the office computer and in its backup. The website is a display, not an archive.

What the site does with each photo

WordPress makes several smaller copies of every image it receives, for thumbnails and page layouts, and keeps the original as well. Galleries often link to that original when someone taps a photo.

So a 10 MB original uploaded today may be the file a phone downloads next year. Resizing first means even the largest version on the site is a sensible size.

When to ask the host to raise the limits

Raising limits makes sense when the site genuinely needs larger files: high-resolution downloads for the press, plan drawings, or long PDF catalogues.

Ask for specific numbers, and ask about memory and time as well as file size, since a larger upload that cannot be processed only moves the error. Hosts will usually adjust reasonable limits on request.

If the host will not move, the resizing habit covers almost everything a small business uploads.

The counter-case

A site that takes uploads from customers, such as photos sent with a quote request, cannot ask every customer to resize first. There, the limits genuinely need to be higher.

Say the limit beside the upload button, in megabytes, and make the error message plain. Better still, have the site resize photos as they arrive.

For the business's own photos, though, resizing first remains the better habit, whatever the limits are.

Before the next batch of photos

  1. Check the maximum upload size on the media screen.
  2. Resize photos to about 2,000 pixels on the long side.
  3. Strip location data from photos taken at customers' homes.
  4. Upload a few at a time rather than the whole shoot.
  5. Note each error message word for word.
  6. Ask the host about file size, memory and time limits.
  7. Keep the originals on the office computer and its backup.

Step two makes most of the limits irrelevant. A photo sized for a screen fits under almost any limit, is quick to process, and is kinder to every visitor who opens the gallery.

Email has size limits of its own, with attachments growing by about a third in transit, as client documents too large for the office mailbox explains.

Frequently asked questions

Why do my photos fail to upload?

The host limits the size of each file and each request, the time allowed and the memory for processing. Photos straight from a camera often exceed the defaults.

What does HTTP error mean in the media library?

Usually that the file arrived but the server failed while making smaller copies of it, most often by running out of memory or time on a large photo.

How large should website photos be?

For a full-width photo, around 2,000 pixels across the longer side is plenty, and galleries need less. Saved at good quality, that is a few hundred kilobytes.

Can I raise the upload limit myself?

Some hosts allow it in the control panel or a settings file. Lines added to .htaccess can bring a site down on some servers, so ask the host first.

Why remove location data from photos?

Phones record where each photo was taken. For a photo of a finished job, that location is the customer's home, which does not belong on a public website.

Should I keep the original photos?

Yes, on the office computer and in its backup. The website needs a version sized for screens, not the full file from the camera.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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