Gmail's attachment size limit

What SendTheStuff will do with a file Gmail won't attach

SendTheStuff will turn the file into a link for your Gmail message. The email will carry one line of text, so none of Gmail's size numbers will come into it.

• Well past the cap. SendTheStuff will take up to 5 GB per transfer, free. That holds whether you write from personal Gmail or from a work edition stuck at 25 MB.
• Your Google storage left alone. A SendTheStuff link will never touch your Drive. Gmail's own Drive link does, because Google storage is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail.
• No sharing prompt. A SendTheStuff link will open for anyone who has it, on any email service. Nobody will be asked to request access.
• Full quality. SendTheStuff will pass the original file along untouched, with nothing zipped or shrunk to squeeze under the limit.
• A batch behind one link. SendTheStuff will hold up to 1,000 files in a transfer. Gmail counts every attachment toward its cap, but a SendTheStuff link won't count against it at all.
• Tidy by default. For 14 days, each link will work, and then the files will be deleted. No copy of the file will linger in your Drive or your Sent folder.

What Gmail's limit actually counts

The 25 MB cap covers the total attachment size of one email, not each file on its own. A handful of photos, each well under the cap, can still pass it together.

For work and school addresses, Google spells out what goes into the count. Workspace sending limits cover the message text and the attachments together, measured before encoding.

Encoding is the step that turns a file into text an email can carry. It makes the data about 33 percent larger than the file itself. So the email that travels is bigger than what you attached. For Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Google measures receiving limits after encoding, on that bigger version.

Sending and receiving are two different numbers

Personal Gmail sends up to 25 MB of attachments per email. For receiving, Google publishes a figure only for its Workspace Enterprise editions, not for personal Gmail.

An email that's too big to receive never reaches your inbox. The sender gets a bounce that reads:

Your message exceeded Google's message size limits.

Nothing shows up on your side. Usually the first you hear of it is the sender asking whether it arrived.

Google Workspace: work and school Gmail

At work or school, the administrator sets Gmail's limits. Most editions still send 25 MB: that covers Business, Education and Enterprise Standard.

Enterprise Plus is the exception. Google raised its sending limit to 50 MB, with conditions:

• The admin has to turn it on. There's no setting you can change for yourself.
• It's for Gmail on the web. Google says the higher limit applies to the web version only.
• Incoming mail gets more room too. Enterprise Plus accepts emails of up to 70 MB, measured after encoding.

Enterprise Standard accepts incoming emails of up to 50 MB. On Business and Education editions, ask your admin what incoming size applies.

Gmail's limits at a glance

What Gmail does when you go over

Gmail doesn't refuse an oversized attachment. It removes the files from the email and adds them as a Google Drive link instead. The file is saved to your Drive, and it counts against storage that's shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail.

From there, three things can trip you up:

• The file never reaches Drive. If storage is short or the connection is slow, Gmail shows "Couldn't send message".
• Your storage is already full. Then your Gmail can't send or receive attachments at all, big or small.
• The file stays private. Recipients without a Google Account can't open it, so Gmail asks you to change its sharing before it sends.

For the Drive route step by step, and its sharing choices, see how to send large files through Gmail.

Where Gmail's workarounds fall short

• The Drive link. It works, but the file sits in your storage until you delete it, eating the same space your email uses. With "Anyone with the link" sharing, anyone the email is forwarded to gets the same permissions as the people you wrote to.
• Splitting it across emails. Each email gets its own 25 MB, so a batch of photos can go out in parts. One long video can't be divided that way without special software.
• Zipping. A zip bundles files into one, but photos and videos are already compressed. It rarely brings them under the cap.
• Waiting for Enterprise Plus. The higher limit only exists on that edition, on the web, once an admin turns it on. Even then it stops at 50 MB.

Until SendTheStuff launches

Gmail's own Drive route is the practical way through for now:

1. In a new message, click Insert files using Drive and insert the file as a Drive link.
2. Share it as Anyone with the link if your recipients use other email services.
3. Delete the Drive copy once they have it.

How to send large files through Gmail walks through each step on a computer and a phone.

When it doesn't work

• A file under 25 MB still turned into a Drive link. Add up every attachment in the email, not just the newest one. On a work or school address, the message text counts too.
• Gmail shows "Couldn't send message". At least one file didn't make it to Drive. Free up Google storage or find a steadier connection, then send again.
• Your edition should allow 50 MB, but you still get a Drive link. The higher limit is only in Gmail on the web, and only after your admin turns it on. Try from a computer, then ask your admin.
• A sender's email to you bounced. Their bounce says "Your message exceeded Google's message size limits." It was bigger than your Gmail accepts. Ask them to send a link instead.
• You're on Gmail Go. It can't send Drive attachments. Copy the Drive link and paste it into the email.
• Recipients say the Drive link won't open. The file is probably still private. Change its sharing to "Anyone with the link" and send the link again.