Gmail limit on email size received?

**gdg** · 29 Jun 2004, 01:04 PM

Does anyone have any idea what the email size limit is which Gmail will receive? I've read somewhere else that someone could not get a 7-8MB attachment...probably over 10MB when sent through email, though.

I just tested sending the new Firefox 0.9.1 installer (about 4.7mb) which is only a little over 6MB through email. I sent from the Gmail account to my Yahoo account and it went through just fine. When I tried to send it from Yahoo to Gmail, Gmail rejected it. I got an Mailer-Daemon message from Yahoo, and there was this at the top:

Quote:

Message from yahoo.com.
Unable to deliver message to the following address(es).

<myusername@gmail.com>:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xx(ip) failed after I sent the message.
Remote host said: 552 Illegal Attachment

pyedka · 29 Jun 2004, 01:36 PM

Read this:
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/...threadid=22668

**gdg** · 29 Jun 2004, 02:03 PM

^I see...and a quote from that thread:

Quote:

Originally posted by shelded
As a security measure to prevent potential viruses, Gmail does not
allow you to receive executable files (such as files ending in .exe)
that could contain damaging executable code.
Gmail does not accept these types of files, even if they are sent in a
zipped (.zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz, .z, .gz) format. If someone tries to
send this type of message to your Gmail account, the message will be
bounced back to the sender.

This sort of reminds me of how Outlook now looks out for your "safety" so irritatingly...which is why I could not bring myself to use it.

Ayreon · 1 Jul 2004, 01:10 AM

Any way of overcoming this? compressing using different format's, perhaps?

BetaTester · 1 Jul 2004, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ayreon
Any way of overcoming this? compressing using different format's, perhaps?

What about renaming the file to change the .exe part?
I think this should work.

Killer · 1 Jul 2004, 09:41 AM

They probably will limit their size limit to avoid anyone trying to send in mails with movies files.

**gdg** · 1 Jul 2004, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Killer
They probably will limit their size limit to avoid anyone trying to send in mails with movies files.

I don't think they'll do this, unless it has an extension like the ones I posted above.

Killer · 1 Jul 2004, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gdgrph
I don't think they'll do this, unless it has an extension like the ones I posted above.

If they doesn't have size restrictions, they might become something like youvegotpost. They need to protect themselves.

**gdg** · 1 Jul 2004, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Killer
If they doesn't have size restrictions, they might become something like youvegotpost. They need to protect themselves.

What I meant was the limit is supposed to be 10mb after encoding, meaning I don't think they are going to be more limited than that.

suckermail · 4 Jul 2004, 11:02 AM

not allowing exe files is really dumb...
like gmail knows better than we do what files are dangerous..;(

**gdg** · 5 Jul 2004, 02:39 AM

I would appreciate it more if they would just have virus checking and allow things through if they are virus free (like with Yahoo...you can scan attachments in the web interface with Yahoo). I know this may not catch everything, but if you're using webmail, most of the time you're safer anyway, since it does not automatically download to your computer. (I realize there are exceptions.)

IsaacH · 5 Jul 2004, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BetaTester
What about renaming the file to change the .exe part?
I think this should work.

I just tried it: it does work. I sent a small exe file to my Gmail account from another account and it was bounced. I changed the same file's extension from .exe to .xex and it got through.

jcwoods · 5 Jul 2004, 10:18 AM

I fiddled with this the other day and an exe that has been rar'd seems to work fine.

29 Jun 2004, 01:36 PM	#2
pyedka Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 737	Read this: http://www.emaildiscussions.com/...threadid=22668

1 Jul 2004, 01:10 AM	#4
Ayreon Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 1	Any way of overcoming this? compressing using different format's, perhaps?

1 Jul 2004, 09:41 AM	#6
Killer Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Singapore Posts: 6,762 Representative of: Killer.kkk.sg	They probably will limit their size limit to avoid anyone trying to send in mails with movies files.

4 Jul 2004, 11:02 AM	#10
suckermail Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 55	not allowing exe files is really dumb... like gmail knows better than we do what files are dangerous..;(

5 Jul 2004, 02:39 AM	#11
gdg Moderator Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2,308	I would appreciate it more if they would just have virus checking and allow things through if they are virus free (like with Yahoo...you can scan attachments in the web interface with Yahoo). I know this may not catch everything, but if you're using webmail, most of the time you're safer anyway, since it does not automatically download to your computer. (I realize there are exceptions.)

5 Jul 2004, 10:18 AM	#13
jcwoods Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 74	I fiddled with this the other day and an exe that has been rar'd seems to work fine.