On a personal Gmail account the attachment limit is 25 MB for the message. Google's help says that when the total is over that limit, Gmail removes the file and puts a Google Drive link in the email instead. You do not get a separate "per file" allowance. Two 15 MB files are 30 MB, and that message is over the cap.
Work and school accounts are different. On those, your Google Workspace administrator sets the sending limit and the receiving limit. The numbers below are the ones Google publishes for that, not a second personal-Gmail cap.
The 25 MB sending limit
Google's attachment help (Send attachments with your Gmail message) states it this way:
- Personal Gmail accounts: 25 MB.
- Work and school accounts: the admin sets the attachment sending limits and the attachment receiving limits.
The 25 MB figure is the total of the files on that message. Inline images pasted into the compose window count toward it. Google's Android help states the same 25 MB personal limit, and the same Drive-link handoff, for the Gmail app.
Going past the limit does not leave the message stuck. Gmail takes the file off the message and inserts a Google Drive link. The recipient opens the file from Drive, so they need access to that file. If you would rather choose the link yourself, use the Drive icon in the compose window and insert the file as a Drive link. Choosing Attachment in that window puts the bytes back on the email, and the 25 MB cap applies again.
A Drive link still needs space in your Google Account. The file lives in Drive. If the account is out of storage, the upload fails and Gmail reports that it could not send the message. Google's help for that error says to remove the attachment and add it again, and that the usual causes are not enough space or a slow connection.
Work and school accounts
The current Workspace sending table lists the cap on the message content and attachments before encoding:
| Account | Sending limit |
|---|---|
| Business | 25 MB |
| Education | 25 MB |
| Enterprise Standard | 25 MB |
| Enterprise Plus | Up to 50 MB, and only in Gmail on the web |
The 50 MB Enterprise Plus cap is the change Google announced on February 24, 2026. The Workspace Updates post says an admin turns it on, there is no setting in the user's own Gmail, and the rollout started on February 23, 2026 for Rapid Release and Scheduled Release. Until the admin enables it, Enterprise Plus stays at the old 25 MB send limit. Business, Education, and Enterprise Standard are still 25 MB.
An admin can also set a stricter attachment-compliance rule, for example reject messages over a size they choose. That rule can be lower than the edition's maximum. If a file that is obviously under 25 MB bounces only on your work account, the admin's compliance setting is the place to look.
Receiving
Google's consumer attachment page does not publish a separate receiving limit for personal Gmail. The 25 MB figure there is the sending limit, with oversized sends handed off to Drive.
Workspace does publish incoming limits, and they are not the same number as sending. The Workspace receiving-limits page, updated October 26, 2026, says an account can receive messages of up to 50 MB on Enterprise Standard or 70 MB on Enterprise Plus. Those values are the size after encoding. The same page says you can receive up to 500 attachments on a single email. The February 2026 Workspace update is the post that raised the Enterprise Plus incoming size to 70 MB, alongside the 50 MB send cap.
Google's edition comparison lists a 50 MB receiving limit for Business and Education. That page and the receiving-limits page were both updated on October 26, 2026, and they do not describe Enterprise the same way. For Enterprise, use the receiving-limits page (50 MB Standard, 70 MB Plus, after encoding). For Business and Education, the comparison page's 50 MB receiving figure is the number Google still prints for those editions.
A non-Gmail recipient can be lower than any of this. Their server rejects the message even when Gmail was willing to send it.
Why a file under 25 MB still fails
The size in Finder or File Explorer is the file on disk. Email sends a MIME message, and binary attachments are encoded for that. Google's Workspace receiving-limits note says encoding adds about 37%. A 20 MB PDF is about 27 MB after that expansion. The Workspace sending table measures its 25 MB (or 50 MB) cap before encoding, so the file can be legal to send and still too big for a recipient whose limit is measured on the encoded message.
The same expansion shows up in admin attachment rules. Google's attachment-compliance help says the rule looks at the raw size of the whole message, and that raw size can be up to about a third larger than the files plus the body.
Other reasons a "small enough" file will not go:
- The cap is the total. A 20 MB file plus an 8 MB file is over 25 MB, and so is a 24 MB file with several pasted screenshots.
- The account is out of the storage shared by Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Google's attachment help says you then cannot send or receive attachments. The Drive-link fallback also uploads a copy, so a full account fails that path too.
- The file type is blocked. Size is irrelevant. An
.exeof a few kilobytes is refused, including inside a zip. - The recipient's mail server, or your Workspace admin, uses a lower cap than yours.
- The Drive upload behind a large attachment did not finish. Google's "Couldn't send message" note covers a missing upload, low space, and a slow connection. Remove the file and attach it again.
File types Gmail blocks
Gmail refuses executable and other risky types, to block malware. The help page File types blocked in Gmail says this also covers the compressed form (.gz, .bz2) and the same files found inside archives (.zip, .tgz). Documents with malicious macros are blocked. So are password-protected archives that contain archived files. Zipping an .exe, or putting a password on an otherwise normal zip, does not get the message through.
Google says it updates the list as threats change. The list published there today:
.ade, .adp, .apk, .appx, .appxbundle, .bat, .cab, .chm, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .diagcab, .diagcfg, .diagpkg, .dll, .dmg, .ex, .ex_, .exe, .hta, .img, .ins, .iso, .isp, .jar, .jnlp, .js, .jse, .lib, .lnk, .mde, .mjs, .msc, .msi, .msix, .msixbundle, .msp, .mst, .nsh, .pif, .ps1, .scr, .sct, .shb, .sys, .vb, .vbe, .vbs, .vhd, .vxd, .wsc, .wsf, .wsh, .xll
If the file is safe and the recipient needs it, Google's own tip is to upload it to Google Drive and send the Drive link.
Ways to send a file that is too big
Google Drive. This is the method Gmail uses on its own once you pass the limit, and it is the one to use on purpose for video and other large files. Put the file in Drive, insert it as a link, and confirm the recipient can open it. The file counts against your Google storage for as long as it stays in Drive.
Compression. Zip or otherwise compress documents and images when you need the result under 25 MB and a real attachment rather than a link. Leave the archive unencrypted. A password-protected archive is on the blocked list even when the files inside are ordinary PDFs. Compression does not make a blocked type allowed.
Split the message. Two emails, each under the total, stay inside the cap when you do not need one archive. That is a workaround for the total, not for a single file that is itself over 25 MB. A single file over the limit still needs Drive or a work account whose admin has raised the cap.
Attachments and the 15 GB pool
Every file that stays on the message counts toward Google Account storage. A personal account includes 15 GB, shared by Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. Spam and Trash count. Google's storage help says that once you are over quota, sending and receiving mail can be affected, which matches the attachment page: at the storage limit you cannot send or receive attachments.
Archiving a message does not free the space. The attachment is still in All Mail. Deleting moves it to Trash, where it counts for up to 30 days unless you empty Trash. After a large delete, Google says the storage counter normally takes up to 48–72 hours to catch up.
Finding the messages that hold those files is a search, not a sending setting. Finding large attachments in Gmail is larger:10M, has:attachment, and filename:. Delete large attachments in Gmail is the cleanup once you have the list. Gmail storage costs is the 15 GB pool and what Google One adds if you would rather pay for space than delete.
MailSweeper Quick Clean includes a big-attachments pass: messages with attachments over 10 MB, moved to Trash so you can still undo them there. It does not raise Gmail's 25 MB sending limit. It removes files that are already sitting in the account and using the shared 15 GB. The Dustpan schedule skips important, starred, sent, and draft mail, then moves the categories you turned on to Trash after 7, 14, 30, 90, or 180 days. Annual is $24/year, with a 14-day free trial if you have not subscribed before, or $99 once.
FAQs
Is 25 MB per file or per email?
Per email. Google's help calls it the total attachment size. One 25 MB file is the whole budget. Several smaller files share it, and pasted images count.
Why did Gmail turn my attachment into a Drive link?
The total was over the account's sending limit. On a personal account that limit is 25 MB. Gmail removes the file from the message and inserts a Google Drive link instead of refusing the send. The recipient opens the file from Drive.
What is the limit on a work account?
The admin sets it. Google's current sending table is 25 MB for Business, Education, and Enterprise Standard, measured before encoding. Enterprise Plus can be raised to 50 MB, on the web only, and only if the admin enables the larger-attachment setting announced in February 2026. Receiving is a different number: 50 MB after encoding on Enterprise Standard, 70 MB after encoding on Enterprise Plus, and 50 MB for Business and Education on Google's edition comparison.
Do attachments count toward the 15 GB?
Yes. Gmail messages and their attachments count toward the Google Account storage shared with Drive and Photos, including Spam and Trash. A Drive link does not leave the pool either. The bytes sit in Drive instead of on the message. Deleting the email, then emptying Trash, is what frees an attachment you no longer need.
