How to Send Large Files in Gmail

Gmail caps attachments at 25 MB per email. Anything bigger has to go through Google Drive, which puts a link in the message instead of the file itself.

Try a normal attachment first

If the file is under 25 MB, click the paperclip icon at the bottom of the compose window and attach it as usual. The limit is the total for all attachments on one email, so several medium files can push you over it together.

Upload the file to Drive from compose

Click the Google Drive icon in the compose toolbar, next to the paperclip. In the picker, choose a file already in Drive, or click the Upload tab and drag the file in or click Select files from your device. Wait for the upload to finish before continuing.

Insert it as a Drive link

At the bottom of the picker, make sure Drive link is selected rather than Attachment, then click Insert. A chip with the file name appears in the email body. Recipients click it to open or download the file from Drive.

Set who can open it

When you click Send, Gmail checks whether every recipient can access the file. If not, a sharing dialog appears. Choose to share only with the recipients or with anyone who has the link, pick a permission level such as Viewer, and click Send. Skipping this step means recipients see a request-access page instead of the file.

Let Gmail handle it automatically

If you attach a file over 25 MB with the paperclip, Gmail does not refuse it. A notice explains that the file will be sent as a Google Drive link, the upload runs in the background, and the same sharing dialog appears when you send. The result is identical to inserting the link yourself.

Recipients may have smaller limits. Some mail providers and company mail servers reject incoming messages well below 25 MB, so an email near the limit can bounce even though Gmail accepts it. A Drive link avoids that entirely, since the message itself stays small.

Links can be revoked. Open the file in Drive, click Share, and remove the person or switch access back to Restricted. The link in the email stops working from that point, which a plain attachment can never do.