Do you want to email your old family vacation videos to your family members?
Do you wish to send your large PDF work files to your colleagues or employees?
But unfortunately, the email attachment max size limit prevents you from sending large media files.
Every email service provider has set a maximum attachment size limit to maintain security and performance for all users.
But, there comes a time when it is essential to send attachments exceeding your ESP maximum size limit.
At that time, you can find yourself in the deep murky water.
But, as they say, there is a way if there is a will.
There are a few loopholes to extending your email attachment max size limit.
Depending upon the email service provider you are using, there are some ways to send files beyond the given limit.
Really?
Let’s explore this article to learn how to send large email attachments.
Why Is There an Email Attachment Max Size Limit?
Most email service providers have set an email attachment maximum limit to provide high security and performance to all their users.
If there is no limit on email attachments, one user can suck all the ESP space and leave others with slow speed and poor performance.
Besides this, some free email service providers have set limits for free email accounts.
For example, they allow free users to send large files up to a specific limit.
Business users can upgrade their ESP plans if they plan to send large email attachments in bulk.
Here’s the attachment size limit of the leading email service providers:
- Gmail: 25 MB
- Outlook.com & Hotmail: 10 MB
- Yahoo Mail: 25 MB
- AOL: 25 MB
- Mail.com: 50 MB
- Zoho Mail: 12 MB
- GoDaddy Workspace: 30 MB
- Microsoft Outlook: 20 MB
- Mozilla Thunderbird: Unlimited
- Windows Live Mail: 10 GB
Can You Send a File Larger Than 25 MB?
As you might have noticed, most email service providers have a maximum attachment size limit of up to 25 MB.
Some even offer less than the 25 MB limit.
But bypassing this attachment size limit is possible depending on the ESP you are using.
Again, we will discuss this ahead.
Before that, you must learn what happens when you bypass your email service provider’s attachment size limit.
Depending upon your ESP, you might encounter the following error message when your file is larger than 25 MB:
- “System Undeliverable, message size exceeds the outgoing message size limit.”
- “Attachment size exceeds the allowable limit.”
- “552: Message size exceeds the maximum permitted.”
- “The size of the message you are trying to send exceeds the global size limit of the server. The message was not sent; reduce the message size and try again”.
Other Issues Related to the Email Size Limit
When your email attachment size limit extends your ESP given limit, it can create several issues for your email marketing campaigns.
Some of the common issues that trigger due to the large email file attachments are:
Spam Filters
Every email service provider uses AI-based spam filters to detect harmful emails before delivering them to users’ inboxes.
And the heavy attachment size is one of the most crucial trigger points for spam filters.
For example, email attachments with a body over 100 – 150 KB can alert spam filters.
As a result, keep your attachments under 150 KB to prevent your emails from landing in the spam folder.
Rendering Problems
It is evident that to load heavy attachments, your recipients need a robust Internet connection.
If recipients have a poor Internet connection or are trying to open your attachments on a smartphone, it can take ages to render them.
As a result, email receivers might not open your email attachment, and your message may not deliver the way you want.
Reduce Domain Authority
When you send emails with large files, it can trigger ESP spam filters.
If this keeps on happening, it can reduce your domain authority.
Eventually, it can list your email domain in the spam list, reducing your email reach.
What is the Best Way to Send a File Larger Than 25 MB?
Whether your ESP provides a 25 MB or less limit to send email attachments, there are a few out-of-the-way methods to send a larger file.
Here you can select the best way to send a file larger than 25 MB:
Way 1. Use a Cloud Storage Service Provider
One of the best methods to send large files via email is taking cloud storage service provider support.
You can upload your file to cloud storage and share that link via email.
It can prevent you from attaching large media files using emails.
There are several cloud storage service providers available supporting various ESPs.
For example, Gmail users have Google Drive to store and send files.
So all you need is to upload your files to your Google Drive account.
After that, you can share files with anyone from your G Drive or copy the file link and paste it into your mailbox to send along with a custom message.
But there is a small catch — cloud service providers are expensive.
For instance, Google Drive only offers every Gmail account 15 GB of free space.
But you can expand it up to 2 TB for $9.99 monthly.
Besides Google Drive, many other cloud storages are available such as SkyDrive for Yahoo, OneDrive for Microsoft, etc.
Way 2. Break Your File
This is the simplest approach to emailing a large file when the cloud storage cost exceeds your budget.
You can break your file content and send it in installments to recipients.
Assume you must send your editor a doc file containing your latest novel draft.
But the entire file has maxed out your ESP attachment size limit.
In that case, you can create a separate file containing a chapter and send one-by-one to your editor.
It is a time-consuming process but free so that you can try it.
Way 3. Reduce the File Size
If you need to send your entire file together, you can use file compression software to reduce your file size before emailing it.
Many file compression software is free to help you reduce the file size.
For example, Windows users can download tools like 7-Zip, PeaZip, or WinZip to compress files before emailing.
On the contrary, MacOS users can get these file compression tools — BetterZip, Keka, The Unarchiver, iZip Unarchiver, etc.
Way 4. Use Third-Party Solutions
Many third-party services are also available to help you transfer large files, such as:
- Jumpshare is a free online service that allows you to upload and send files up to 250 MB for free. You only need to upload your file to your account and share its link with a simple drag-and-drop option.
- Sendy Pro is a premium file-sharing tool. It lets your files use a unique six-digit code with anyone. You don’t need email addresses to share files using this tool. In addition, you can also share a file link using platforms like Slack.
- MyAirBridge is another free tool to upload and share files up to 20 GB via email. You can also share or download file links through your storage system.
Way 5. Use SFTP
Do you need to send confidential data through email?
In that case, third-party solutions are not a secure option.
You need a more secure and encrypted solution to transfer your files.
The secure file transfer protocol is the best option here.
SFTP runs on secure shell encryption, offering high-level security while sending and receiving files.
In addition, it uses AES encryption and other security algorithms to secure remote data transactions.
Other Helpful Tutorials
Here are some other useful tutorials on working with emails to share your data securely:
- How to Unzip Files From Compressed Folders: Explore this tutorial to open compressed folders downloaded from your email.
- How To Send Large Video Files: Do you want to send large video files through email? In that case, this tutorial can help you send large video files without compromising your ESP size limit.
- How to Fix the upload_max_filesize directive Error: Are you getting the upload_max_filesize directive error message despite all your efforts to reduce your file size Then, this tutorial can help you fix this error.
Wrapping Up
Emails are the most simple, secure, and fast way to share files and folders with people across the globe.
But, an email attachment max size limit is set by most ESP services.
Therefore, it can make it challenging to share large files via email.
But, as we have discussed, there are solutions to sending large files through email using cloud storage, reducing your file size, and more.
You can select the best method to send large email attachments based on your file size and other requirements.
So, that’s it for now! For more helpful tutorials, you can stay tuned with us.
