File too big for email.
Email was never designed to carry big files. Every server along the path enforces its own size cap, and the lowest cap wins. Gmail and Outlook both sit at 20 to 25 MB, which is why a 30 MB PDF gets bounced even when your own client accepted it. The fix is to stop attaching and start linking. Host the file somewhere clean, paste the link in your message, let the recipient download it directly. The upload widget below produces that link in seconds, with no signup and no subscription.
Drop a file.
Free up to 100 MB. We will give you a link in seconds.
or click anywhere to choose
No email means no recovery. If you lose this link, we can't get you back to this file.
Price scales with file count, up to 25 files. Shown once. 7-day expiry.
What is happening
Most email systems cap attachments between 20 MB and 25 MB. The safe planning number is 20 MB across providers.
Email was not designed to move big files. SMTP servers along a message's path each enforce their own size cap, and the lowest cap wins. Gmail and Outlook both sit at 20 to 25 MB. Even when your client lets you attach a 50 MB file, the recipient's server may bounce it. The fix is to stop attaching and start linking.
Common workarounds
Here is what most people try first, and where each option falls short.
- Compress with 7-Zip or your OS zip tool
- Pack the file into a single archive before attaching.
- Downside. Already-compressed formats (MP4, JPG, MOV, PDF, DOCX) barely shrink. Compression is a real win only on raw text and uncompressed image formats.
- Switch to a personal cloud link (Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox)
- Upload, copy the share link, paste in the email.
- Downside. Every option requires a personal account for you and possibly the recipient. The file lives in your cloud forever unless you remember to clean it up.
- Split the file into smaller pieces
- Use a split-archive tool, send each part as a separate email.
- Downside. Slow, fragile, and the recipient has to rejoin the pieces. Spam filters often flag multi-part archives.
- Use a paid transfer service
- Sign up for WeTransfer Pro, Smash, or Hightail.
- Downside. Monthly subscription for an occasional need. You also pay during months you send nothing.
The cleaner fix
Drop the file on quik.space, copy the link, paste it in your email. The recipient opens the link in any browser, downloads, and the job is done. Free up to 100 MB, no signup, no monthly bill, no file lingering in your cloud after the send.
The upload widget at the top of this page is the same one on the homepage. Drop the file, copy the link, paste it where you wanted to attach. See pricing for the full table or how it works for the three-step explainer.
What we will not do
We do not read your file. We do not train AI on your file. We do not sell your file. Every upload is encrypted in transit over HTTPS and at rest. The share ID is an 8-character random string with roughly 218 trillion combinations, so the link is practically unguessable. After 72 hours plus a 7-day grace period, the bytes are permanently purged from storage and cannot be recovered.
Frequently asked
- Why is there an attachment size cap at all?
- SMTP, the protocol behind email, was designed in the 1980s for short text messages. Mail servers cap attachment size to keep storage and bandwidth predictable. Modern email clients work around this by offering cloud links, but the underlying cap is still there.
- What is the safest planning number across email providers?
- 20 MB. Gmail and many corporate servers stop at 25 MB, but base64 encoding inflates the wire size, so 20 MB of file content is the realistic safe maximum.
- Will a quik.space link work in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, ProtonMail?
- Yes. The link is a plain HTTPS URL and works in any email client and any browser.
- How long do files stay alive?
- 72 hours by default. Pay $2 to extend any file by 30 days, renewable. After grace, the file is permanently purged.
- Is this safer than sending the file as an attachment?
- From a privacy angle, similar. From a deliverability angle, much better. Many spam filters flag large attachments as risky. A clean HTTPS link reaches the inbox without that friction.
Related
Hitting a different size cap? Here are nearby problem-state guides.