- Your file bounced, so which number is the real one?
- Upload ceilings by plan, file type and route
- Two answers on one help page for larger plans
- What happens when you hit the ceiling
- File types the app accepts
- Uploading through the API
- If you need bigger attachments elsewhere
- My advice before you upload anything large
- Frequently asked questions
Notion's help centre says that, as of Nov 2026, Free Plan uploads must be under 5MB per file. On a higher plan the FAQ says files of up to 5GB each, though a note on the same page says PNG and JPG images must stay under 5MB and PDFs under 20MB. The API's simple upload handles files up to 20 MB.
Your file bounced, so which number is the real one?
You drag a brochure, a client contract or a screen recording into a page, and nothing happens, or you get an error saying it's too large. The first thing most people do is search for the limit, and that's where the confusion starts, because the official help page carries more than one answer for the bigger plans.
Here's what it says, laid out so you can match your situation to the right line. There are really three separate questions: which plan you're on, what type of file you've got, and whether you're uploading through the app or through the API. Each one has its own ceiling.
Upload ceilings by plan, file type and route
| Item | Limit | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Any single file upload | Under 5MB | Free Plan, as of Nov 2026 |
| Any single file upload | Up to 5GB | Higher plans (FAQ wording) |
| Under 20MB | Higher plans (page note) | |
| Image (PNG, JPG) | Under 5MB | Higher plans (page note) |
| API single-request upload | Up to 20 MB | API, simple upload |
| API upload link lifetime | 1 hour to attach; hosted file URLs expire after 1 hour | API |
The first four rows come from the Notion Help Center page on images, files and media. The last two come from the developer guide on uploading small files.
Two answers on one help page for larger plans
This is the bit that trips people up. At the top of the help page there's a note: on a higher plan, PDFs must be under 20MB and images in PNG or JPG format must be under 5MB. Further down, the FAQ says that on a higher plan you can upload files of up to 5GB each. Both lines sit on the same page, the Notion Help Center's images, files and media article, and they don't agree.
I'm not going to pick one for you and pretend the other isn't there. My reading is that the 5GB line describes general file uploads, and the note describes images and PDFs placed as their own content type. In practice, if a large PDF or a big PNG fails, assume the lower number applies to it and work around it, rather than assuming your account has a fault.
What happens when you hit the ceiling
The upload simply fails or the image won't display. If an image errors as too large to be displayed, the help page's own suggestion is to upload it as a file instead of as an image block. You lose the inline preview, but the file is stored and anyone on the page can open it.
Video is a slightly different story. MP4 is on the supported list, but MP4 files can fail because of unsupported video compression, so a file that's well under the limit can still be refused. For anything long, embedding is usually the better route: you can embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other major sources rather than uploading them, which keeps the page light and sidesteps the size question altogether.
If you're on the Free Plan as of Nov 2026, the 5MB line covers every file, so a phone photo or a short PDF is fine, while most videos and design files won't be. If you keep client files against records, this guide to building and using databases in your workspace shows where a files property fits in day-to-day use.
File types the app accepts
The help page lists HEIC, ICO, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, GIF, SVG, PDF, MD, WEBP, MP3, MP4, WAV and OGG among the supported types. Anything outside that list can still be attached as a generic file in many cases, but it won't preview inline.
Uploading through the API
If you're pushing files in from another system, the developer guide says the single-request upload supports files up to 20 MB, and anything bigger needs a multi-part upload. There's also a timing rule worth knowing: an uploaded file has to be attached within 1 hour or it expires, and the hosted file links you get back expire after 1 hour too. So don't store those links and expect them to work tomorrow; fetch a fresh one when you need it.
Uploaded files can be attached to image, file, video, audio or pdf blocks, and to files properties on database pages. That last one is handy if you're building a client portal or an asset library from a form.
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If you need bigger attachments elsewhere
Airtable supports individual attachments up to 5GB, with storage per base of 1 GB on Free, 20 GB on Team, 100 GB on Business and 1000 GB on Enterprise Scale. That makes it a reasonable home for heavy files tied to records.
Baserow Cloud sets the maximum file upload size at 100MB per file, and those files count toward the workspace storage limit. If you're weighing a move, my roundup of other all-in-one workspace apps goes through the wider trade-offs.
My advice before you upload anything large
Keep heavy media out of your pages. Put long videos on YouTube or Vimeo and embed them, keep images under 5MB, and keep PDFs under 20MB whatever plan you're on, because then you don't have to care which line on the help page wins. If something still bounces, upload it as a file rather than an image block, and you'll be back to work in a minute.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Notion file size limit on the Free Plan?
Under 5MB per file, as of Nov 2026, according to Notion's help page.
What is the limit on larger plans?
The FAQ says up to 5GB per file, while a note on the same page says PDFs under 20MB and PNG or JPG images under 5MB.
Why does my image say it's too large to display?
Notion suggests uploading the image as a file instead of an image block.
Can I upload large videos?
You can embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other major sources rather than uploading them.
What is the limit through the API?
The simple upload guide covers files up to 20 MB; larger files need a multi-part upload.
