413 Request Entity Too Large: How to Raise Your Upload Limit

You're trying to upload a theme, a plugin, or a large video to your site, and instead of finishing you get "413 Request Entity Too Large." It's not a bug and nothing is broken — the server is simply refusing a file bigger than it's currently set to accept. Raising that ceiling is straightforward once you know there are actually a few separate limits at play, and which one is stopping you.

What 413 actually means

Every server caps the size of a single request it will accept, mostly to stop a huge or malicious upload from tying up resources. When your file crosses that cap, the server rejects the request before it even finishes — that rejection is the 413. The fix is to raise the relevant limit, and there are three that commonly matter.

The three limits involved

An upload has to clear all three of these, so the smallest one wins:

• upload_max_filesize — the biggest single file PHP will accept. This is the one people hit first.
• post_max_size — the biggest total request PHP will accept. It must be at least as large as upload_max_filesize, and a little larger to allow for other form data sent alongside the file.
• The web server's request-body limit — LiteSpeed (and Apache/Nginx) enforce their own cap independently of PHP. If PHP is set generously but you still get a 413, this is usually the culprit.

Raising the PHP limits in cPanel

The friendliest route is MultiPHP INI Editor in cPanel. Choose your domain, then raise upload_max_filesize and post_max_size to comfortably above your file — for a 120 MB upload, setting them to 256 MB gives headroom. Save, and the change is live immediately. While you're there, a long upload on a slow connection can also trip max_execution_time; nudging it up prevents a large file timing out halfway.

If you prefer, the same values can go in a .user.ini or php.ini file in your site's root — but for most people the INI Editor is quicker and harder to get wrong.

The web-server limit

If PHP is set high and the 413 persists, the request is being stopped at the web-server layer before PHP ever sees it. On shared hosting you usually can't edit that setting yourself — and that's fine, because it's exactly the kind of thing to hand to us. Tell us the size you need to upload and we'll raise the server-side limit for your account. On our own infrastructure that's a quick change, not a support ticket that sits for a day.

WordPress-specific notes

WordPress shows your current limit at the bottom of Media → Add New ("Maximum upload file size"). If it still reads low after you've raised the PHP values, your site is probably on a different PHP version than the one you edited — check Select PHP Version and confirm you changed the active one. Some themes and security plugins also set their own limit, which can override yours.

When a giant upload isn't the right answer

Raising limits is the correct fix for a legitimately large theme, backup, or media file. But if you're routinely uploading very large videos through the media library, it's worth stepping back: video is usually better served from a dedicated video host or a CDN, which streams it efficiently and keeps the weight off your hosting account entirely. Raising the ceiling solves today's upload; the right tool for big media saves you from hitting it again.