Guide
Email attachment size limits—and how to send the file anyway
Most inboxes refuse anything much larger than 25MB. That is fine for a PDF. It is useless for video, design packages, and zipped project folders. Here are typical caps and a better way to deliver the work.
Typical attachment limits
Providers change details, but consumer and work email have hovered in the same range for years. Treat these as planning numbers and confirm in your own client if a send fails.
| Service | Typical attachment cap |
|---|---|
| Gmail | 25MB per message |
| Outlook / Microsoft 365 | About 20–25MB (tenant policies can be stricter) |
| Yahoo Mail | 25MB |
| iCloud Mail | About 20MB |
| Many corporate servers | 10–25MB, sometimes less |
Why the cap exists
Email was not designed as a file store. Large attachments slow servers, bounce through spam filters, and leave copies in every mailbox that forwards the thread. Providers keep the limit low on purpose. Compressing a video until it fits usually means the client gets a worse file.
What to do when the file is too big
- Do not split a zip across ten messages. Recipients lose pieces and you lose a clean record.
- Upload the original to VuTransfer and share a download link instead of the file itself.
- Set an expiration that matches the project. Add a password on Ultimate when the package is sensitive.
- Keep the email short: context, the link, and when it expires.
Send past the 25MB wall
VuTransfer is built for large file transfer—including video—with encryption and plans from 2GB free to 1TB. Recipients open a link in the browser. You stay under the attachment limit and out of the bounce folder. See pricing or the rest of our guides.