HTTP 413 Content Too Large (previously called Payload Too Large) means the request body is larger than the server is configured to accept. The server may close the connection or return a Retry-After header suggesting when to try again.
Status
413 Content Too LargeExample
POST /upload/profile-photo HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
User-Agent: curl/8.6.0
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Length: 10485760
[... 10 MB image data ...]HTTP/1.1 413 Content Too Large
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 202
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>413 Content Too Large</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>File Too Large</h1>
<p>The file you uploaded exceeds the maximum allowed size of 5 MB.</p>
</body>
</html>How to Troubleshoot
Reduce the request body size
Compress the file, reduce image resolution, or split the upload into smaller chunks.
Increase server limits
On the server, increase the body size limit.
# Nginx: client_max_body_size 50M;
# Apache: LimitRequestBody 52428800
# Node.js: app.use(express.json({ limit: '50mb' }))Use multipart or chunked uploads
For large files, implement multipart upload or chunked transfer encoding.
Common Causes
File upload exceeds size limit
highThe uploaded file is larger than the server's configured maximum upload size (e.g., Nginx client_max_body_size).
API request body too large
mediumThe JSON or XML payload exceeds the API's request body size limit.
Related Status Codes
References
| Specification | Section |
|---|---|
| HTTP Semantics | RFC 9110 §15.5.14 |
Frequently Asked Questions
This reference was compiled from official RFCs, protocol specifications, and hands-on troubleshooting experience. AI tools were used primarily for formatting and organizing the content on the page.