PHP: The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini

What the message looks like

The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini
PHP Warning:  POST Content-Length of 52428900 bytes exceeds the limit of 8388608 bytes in Unknown on line 0

Common causes

• upload_max_filesize in the php.ini of PHP-FPM is smaller than the file.
• post_max_size is smaller than the upload plus other form data (then $_FILES is silently empty).
• nginx client_max_body_size is smaller and answers 413 before PHP sees the file.
• The setting was changed in the CLI php.ini instead of the FPM one.
• A pool or .user.ini overrides the global value, or the upload is so slow that max_input_time or max_execution_time ends it.

Check

1. Effective values in the FPM php.ini
   grep -E '^(upload_max_filesize|post_max_size|memory_limit|max_input_time|max_execution_time) *=' /etc/php/*/fpm/php.iniCopy
2. Overrides in conf.d and pools
   grep -rEn 'upload_max_filesize|post_max_size' /etc/php/*/fpm/conf.d/ /etc/php/*/fpm/pool.d/Copy
3. The nginx limit
   nginx -T 2>/dev/null | grep -n 'client_max_body_size'Copy
4. What does the web server return for a large body? (look at the status line)
   curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' -X POST --data-binary @/etc/services https://example.com/upload.phpCopy

Fix

• Create a drop-in /etc/php/<version>/fpm/conf.d/99-upload.ini with upload_max_filesize = 64M and post_max_size = 72M. The second value must be larger than the first.
• Make sure memory_limit is not smaller than post_max_size if the application loads the file into memory.
• In nginx set client_max_body_size 72M; (in http, server or the upload location).
• Restart the PHP-FPM service of your version and reload nginx: nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx.
• For slow connections also raise max_input_time and max_execution_time.

FAQ

Why must post_max_size be bigger than upload_max_filesize?

The POST request contains the file plus form fields and encoding overhead. If it exceeds post_max_size, PHP drops the whole request body.

Does .htaccess help on nginx?

No. nginx ignores .htaccess. Use the php.ini drop-in, or php_admin_value in the pool file.