4xx Client Error
413 Content Too Large
The request body is bigger than the server is willing to process.
What causes it
- A file upload over the server limit.
- nginx `client_max_body_size` (default 1 MB).
- Apache `LimitRequestBody`; PHP `upload_max_filesize` / `post_max_size`.
- An API gateway payload cap (AWS API Gateway: 10 MB).
How to fix it
- Raise the limit on every hop — the proxy, the app server and the language runtime all have their own.
- For large files, use chunked or presigned direct-to-storage uploads instead of proxying through the app.
- Formerly called "Payload Too Large" and, before that, "Request Entity Too Large".
At a glance
- Class
- 4xx Client Error
- Reference
- RFC 9110 §15.5.14
- Standardised
- Yes
- Retry the request?
- No — fix the request
Other 4xx client error codes
- 400 Bad Request
- 401 Unauthorized
- 402 Payment Required
- 403 Forbidden
- 404 Not Found
- 405 Method Not Allowed
- 406 Not Acceptable
- 407 Proxy Authentication Required
- 408 Request Timeout
- 409 Conflict
- 410 Gone
- 411 Length Required
- 412 Precondition Failed
- 414 URI Too Long
- 415 Unsupported Media Type
- 416 Range Not Satisfiable
- 417 Expectation Failed
- 418 I'm a teapot
- 421 Misdirected Request
- 422 Unprocessable Content
- 423 Locked
- 424 Failed Dependency
- 425 Too Early
- 426 Upgrade Required
- 428 Precondition Required
- 429 Too Many Requests
- 431 Request Header Fields Too Large
- 451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons
- 499 Client Closed Request