Gmail accepts up to 25 MB of attachments per message on personal accounts, counting every file in the email together. Google Workspace accounts get whatever limit the administrator sets, and Enterprise Plus accounts can send up to 50 MB since February 2026. A bigger file is not refused outright: Gmail moves it to Google Drive and puts a link in the message instead.
Which limit applies to your account?
| Account | Send | Receive |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Gmail | 25 MB per message | Not published by Google (widely reported as 50 MB) |
| Google Workspace (Business, Education) | Set by the administrator, 25 MB by default | Set by the administrator |
| Google Workspace Enterprise Standard | 25 MB | 50 MB |
| Google Workspace Enterprise Plus | Up to 50 MB (since February 2026) | 70 MB |
The figures come from Google's own pages: Send attachments with your Gmail message, Gmail receiving limits in Google Workspace and the February 2026 Workspace update. The limit applies to the whole message, so three 10 MB photos count as 30 MB. It also has to fit on the receiving side: a message that leaves an Enterprise Plus account at 60 MB bounces at most other addresses.
Why does a 20 MB file still bounce?
Email cannot carry raw binary data. Attachments travel as Base64 text, which is about a third larger than the file on disk, and Gmail measures the encoded size, not the size you see in the Finder or Explorer. A 20 MB video becomes roughly 27 MB in transit and fails the 25 MB check. In practice, files up to about 18 MB attach without trouble; between 18 and 25 MB the result depends on the file.
How do you send a file larger than 25 MB?
Three ways, from least to most control over what the recipient gets.
- Let Gmail use Google Drive. Attach the file as usual. When it is over the limit, Gmail uploads it to Drive and inserts a link. The recipient needs permission to open it, and the file counts against your Google storage (15 GB shared by Gmail, Drive and Photos on a free account).
- Compress before attaching. A
.zipshrinks documents and layered design files. It does almost nothing for photos and video, which are already compressed. - Send a transfer link instead of an attachment. A transfer service uploads the files once and puts a download link in the email, so the attachment limit no longer applies. Brault Transfer sends up to 2 GB per transfer on the free plan (5 transfers a month) and up to 250 GB per transfer on Growth, with a branded download page, an optional password and an expiry date. The plans and limits page lists every cap.
For video specifically, the guide on how to send large video files compares the options by file size and quality loss.
What else stops an attachment?
- Blocked file types. Gmail refuses executable files such as
.exe, to keep viruses out of the inbox. - Full storage. Attachments count toward the storage shared by Gmail, Drive and Photos. Once you reach the limit, Gmail stops sending and receiving attachments until you free space.