Increase file upload size in WordPress

Are you running a WordPress server and do you want to increase the (standard) file upload size? This article will explain how to increase it in your PHP settings and web server (Apache) settings. As an added bonus, this article will also explain how to increase the file upload size in case you are having your web server behind a reverse proxy (NGINX).

Increase file upload size

Before we increase the file upload size, you can check the current file upload size by either going to your WordPress admin page – Media – Add New.

Alternatively, you can add a PHP info page to your web server with the following content:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

When you navigate to this page, you can search for upload_max_filesize.

To increase the file size you have to create a file named /etc/php/8.2/apache2/conf.d/wordpress.ini. Where 8.2 is your PHP version and wordpress.ini can be named to your liking. Add the following content to the file to match your preferred upload size.

upload_max_filesize = 50M

Now restart your Apache web server to apply the new limit using systemctl restart apache2. Now either go back to WordPress and refresh the Upload New Media page or refresh your PHP info page. The new upload value should now appear!

Reverse Proxy

If you are also dealing with a reverse proxy, you might want to add the maximum file upload size there too! In this case, we are dealing with an NGINX reverse proxy. Open your website configuration and add the following in the server section:

client_max_body_size 50M;

Now reload NGINX by using nginx -s reload.

Sources

• php.ini upload_max_filesize not updating (stackoverflow.com)
• Nginx Max Upload Size (educba.com)