How To Increase the WordPress Maximum File Size Upload

Introduction

Sometimes the media files we try to upload on WordPress can’t be uploaded because it is greater than the default file size upload restrictions which WordPress has. As a result, we may have to decrease the quality (if it’s an image) or we have to divide it into chunks (if it’s a video). These workarounds aren’t good since they force you to compromise the quality of your media files. Thankfully, we can modify the maximum media file upload size, and we can do so quite easily. In this article, you’ll learn how.

With that said, let’s start learning how!

Checking the Maximum File Size Upload (Optional)

Before changing the maximum media file upload size, you should check the current configuration first. You should do this because the default maximum file size upload may be enough. We can do this through the admin dashboard.

To do that, we have to go Upload New Media page. The page can be accessed by hovering over the Media link, then clicking on Add New as can be seen below.

Doing this will redirect us to the Upload Media Page. Once there, look for the Maximum upload file size.

If the files you will be uploading are at most the size of the specified file size, you won’t be needing to change the file size. However, if you still need to modify the maximum size of the files that you will be uploading, you should proceed to the next section.

Increasing the Maximum Media File Upload Size

Changing .htaccess

In previous versions of WordPress, changing the maximum upload file size can be done through changing WordPress config files like functions.php or php.ini. However, this doesn’t seem to work on the latest version of WordPress at the time this article was written (WordPress 5.6). We can, thankfully still modify .htaccess to change the maximum file upload size.

The .htaccess file is usually found in your WordPress site’s root directory. If you can’t find though, Just create an empty .htaccess file in the root directory. Once you do that, place the following snippet inside the .htaccess file.

php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300

This will change maximum media file upload size. The most important lines here are the first two. If you need to further increase the maximum media file upload size, just change the values in the first two lines to the values you need. Once you do, you should see that the maximum file upload size has changed in the Upload New Media page.

In case, your site is remotely deployed, you can create an .htaccess file as was previously done and just upload it via FTP.

Using a Plugin

If you can’t change the .htaccess or have no access to your WordPress site’s root directory, you an just always use a plugin. The plugin we recommend using is Increase Maximum Upload File Size, which is a free plugin available on the WordPress Plugin Repository.

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin through the admin dashboard by clicking on the plugin’s link on the admin dashboard as can be seen on the picture below.

Once redirected to the plugin’s page, we can just change the maximum file upload size and we’re good to go!

We can in the picture below that changing the settings in the plugin’s configuration page changes the maximum media file upload size in the Upload New Media page.

That’s all you need to do for the plugin method.

Conclusion

Now you know hot to increate the maximum media file upload size for your WordPress site and you even know different ways to do it. We personally, however, recommend using the plugin method since it is much easier and less error prone. This is because, manually modifying configuration files can break your site, but plugin’s take care of handling this for you. Given the ways shown, go with the plugin.

Thank you for reading our tutorial!