It is not just Discord holding your files hostage
Every platform caps uploads differently, and fails differently. Pick where the file is going and the tool loads that platform’s target size.
Discord Free 20 MB, Nitro Basic 50 MB, Nitro 500 MB. Video is where it hurts; images rarely are. 20 MB / 500 MB Senior-high portfolio (Taiwan) Documents capped at 4 MB, audio and video at 10 MB, 720p buys you 20 seconds. 4 MB / 10 MB Email attachments Gmail says 25 MB, but Base64 inflates files by a third, so the real ceiling is ~18 MB. 25 MB → 18 MB LINE video and photos Generous caps, frequent failures on mobile data, and LINE re-compresses on top. Aim under 50 MB Shopee product images 2 MB per image, 1:1 at 1024 px recommended, and a separate 30 MB video cap. 2 MB / 30 MB YouTube thumbnails 2 MB at 1280×720, and WebP is rejected outright, so the wrong format simply fails. 2 MB · JPEG Instagram posts Nothing fails to upload; Instagram just crushes your image. 1080 px is the number that matters. 1080 px WhatsApp Video sent as media caps at 16 MB, and photos get squashed to around 100 KB regardless. 16 MB WordPress uploads PHP ships with a 2 MB upload cap, and plenty of hosts will not let you raise it. 2 MB
Every limit at a glance
The cap is only the gate. What actually stops an upload is usually more specific than "file too large".
| Platform / scenario | Per-file cap | What usually blocks you |
|---|---|---|
| Discord free | 20 MB | Clip length, not quality |
| Discord Nitro | 500 MB | Rarely an issue |
| Portfolio (document) | 4 MB | Unresized photos inside the PDF |
| Portfolio (media) | 10 MB | Phones default to 1080p |
| Gmail attachment | 25 MB | Base64 inflates files by a third |
| Outlook desktop | 20 MB | The recipient’s cap is stricter |
| LINE video | 300 MB / 5 min | Mobile upload timeouts |
| Shopee product image | 2 MB | Phone originals start at 4000 px |
| Shopee product video | 30 MB | Duration must be 10–60 seconds |
Each scenario page preloads that platform’s target size and dimension rules. Open it and go, nothing is uploaded, as always.