Drupal: File Size Limitations

UMN Drupal websites have file size limits in place to provide parameters around uploaded files and media. These limits help ensure that your web pages are efficient for your visitors and help enforce appropriate usage of the Drupal platform as a shared service. 

Note: These limits do not apply to embedded content (e.g. Youtube videos) or linked files that are hosted elsewhere (e.g. linked file stored in Google Drive). 

File Upload Size Limits

File Type

Allowed Extensions

Size Limit

Image

png, gif, jpg, jpeg, avif, webp

3 MB

Document

txt, pdf, doc, docx

3 MB

Video

mp4

5 MB

Audio

mp3, wav, aac

5 MB

Limit Enforcement

If you attempt to upload a file that exceeds the size limit, you will receive an error message indicating that your file is too big. The error states the size of your file as well as the respective limit for that file type.

File is too big message in Drupal. States existing size (3.16MiB) and maximum file size (3MiB).

Options If Your File Exceeds the Limit

Optimizing Your File

You may be able to optimize your file to reduce its size so that it is under the limit. The steps to do so will vary based on the file type, your operating system, and what software you have installed. You may need to search the web for instructions for your specific scenario. 

For example, to reduce the file size of an image on a Mac, use Apple's instructions for using the built-in Preview application. If you are on a Windows PC, you can also reduce the file size of images using built-in tools.

Embedding or Linking to Your File Instead

There are no file size limitations on embedded content or linked files that are hosted elsewhere. 

Hosting Videos

Consider uploading videos to a platform like Youtube or Vimeo, and then adding them to your site as remote videos. You will be able to embed these videos directly into the layout of your webpage.

Linking to Files

For other file types, consider uploading them to Google Drive, and then linking to the files from your website. 

Understanding File Best Practices

As a best practice for business continuity, we recommend storing the file in a Shared Drive or the My Drive of a departmental account so that files are not lost due to staffing transitions. See How to Keep Ownership of Departmental Google Files for more information. 

To make a Google Drive file publicly available to any website visitor, change the access permissions for the file so that anyone with the link can open the file.

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