Limit File Upload Size in NGINX

By limiting the file size of uploads, you can prevent some types of Denial-of-service (DOS)
attacks and many other issues. By default, NGINX® has a upload limit of 1 MB per file.
By editing client_max_body_size, you adjust the file upload size.

Use the http, server, or location block to edit client_max_body_size.

• Changes to the http block affect all server blocks (virtual hosts).
• Changes to the server block affect a particular site or application.
• Changes to the location block affect a particular directory for uploads under a site
  or application.

Edit the upload file size value

1. Edit the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file to increase the limit of the files to upload:

   • http:

      http {
      ...
      client_max_body_size 100M;
      }
     

   • server:

      server {
      ...
      client_max_body_size 100M;
      }
     

   • location:

      location /uploads {
      ...
      client_max_body_size 100M;
      } 
     

2. Save the file and restart the NGINX webserver to apply the changes:

   • systemd

     systemctl restart nginx

   • sysvinit

     service nginx restart

Note: sudo nginx -s reload reloads the configuration without restarting nginx.

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