How to Increase WordPress’ File Upload Size Correctly

WordPress’ Media Uploader makes it very easy for users to upload images, videos, documents and more to their website. It’s a great tool for users who want to bypass often cumbersome and confusing FTP clients and have access to their media instantly.

Often, users want to upload files through the media tool that is over the WordPress size limit. Let’s find out the some of the methods being used to increased the default WordPress upload limit and how to implement them.

Increase WP Upload Size: The Solution that Works

So you want to increase the upload size of WordPress now. First, verify that you do not have a free account through WordPress.com and that you have access to your site’s files whether it be via your host’s file manager, good ol’ FTP, etc. Got that? Great, I can verify that this solution worked beautifully for me and was a snap to implement. How to do it:

Increase Upload Size Using a PHP.INI file

While the “php.ini” file name may seem scary, it’s simply a config file that we are using to modify the default server settings. I recommend you read more about the PHP.ini file by doing a quick Google search, it’s good knowledge. Ok so now let’s create this php.ini file and add some config commands to increase the default WordPress file upload size.

Create the php.ini File using Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac)

Creating the file is easy, just open up your favorite text editor and save the file with the PHP name and the “.ini” extension.

Add the Following to the php.ini File

You may increase the file size limits by modifying the upload size.

memory_limit = 100M
upload_max_filesize = 192M
post_max_size = 100M
file_uploads = On

Upload the File to your wp-admin Directory

Ensure that you upload the file directly to the wp-admin folder of your WordPress installation and that’s it! Verify your site’s upload limits are increased by testing it through the WP Media uploader.

Screencast: How to Increase the WordPress Upload Size Limit

For those visual learners here’s a quick screencast I put together to quickly show you how easy this process actually is; please enjoy.

Increasing WordPress’ Upload Size: The Solutions You May Have Tried

There’s a lot of forum threads and blog posts on the Internet that you may have stumbled upon that seem like viable solutions. While some of them may work for certain situations, they may be more difficult/risky to implement or may not work at all. Here are some of the most common methods for increasing the max upload size of WordPress.

Modifying the .htaccess

The .htaccess file is a critical file on your server for directing visitors. One error in this file and you’re site’s down. That’s why I’d hesitate using this solution. I could not get this work in my testing environment, but I see it mentioned so often on the threads that someone must have gotten it to work.

Modifying the WordPress wp-config File

Increasing the WordPress memory limit in the wp-config files seems like it would be a viable solutions, but I could not get this to work to increase the file upload size. I have utilized define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’); to increase the memory limit for WordPress for other situation successfully but unfortunately not for this one.

Still not Working?

Depending on your host you may need to perform some extra steps necessary to increase you upload size. Here’s a few:

Using GoDaddy Hosting?

For users on GoDaddy, you will need to name your file “php5.ini” in order for their servers to recognize your settings.

MediaTemple Hosted Website

Check out the “How can I edit php.ini file?” to edit you php.ini files. Once you know how to edit the file, use the code in this article to increase the upload size to your desired setting.

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