This topic

Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 08:51:22 GMT

I have tried to send a small GIF in the body of an email message, but it won't send as there is a pop up error saying, "the message cannot be sent as the body exceeds 300Kb...".

Now, 20 years ago, 300Kb was alot, in 2022, the memory used is negligible! I pay £90/year for this 'premium' service. How much extra would BT like to send 300Kb? I would also like to know the technical reason that such a low limit has been placed on an email?

300Kb maximum error

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 10:19:32 GMT

I forgot to advise that the refused GIF is a whole 614Kb in size...

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:21:54 GMT

I'm just being cheeky now, whilst the 'email team' are under the hood fixing the 'not opening in new tab' issue, do you think they could increase the 300Kb limit for the body of an email?

Now I know a few decades ago that was about a quarter of a whole Floppy Disk storage at 1.4Mb, but in 2022, it's insignificant. Even an increase to a whole 1Mb would be significant for a user! Go on, I'd even buy them a pint for their trouble 🤣

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

imjolly — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:39:50 GMT

unlikely as BT no longer offer email to new customers and I wonder how long before notice that BT email is being terminated or changed to just basic email

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/06/broadband-isp-bt-to-scrap-email-and-cloud-for-new-customers.html

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:49:09 GMT

@imjollywrote:
unlikely as BT no longer offer email to new customers and I wonder how long before notice that BT email is being terminated or changed to just basic email
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/06/broadband-isp-bt-to-scrap-email-and-cloud-for-new-customers.html

Reminds me of a saying my old mum use to tell me, "if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all..." LOL

If you liked my post, please show appreciation by sending me money through the post 🤣

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:45:58 GMT

@Stephen5000

Email was designed to be a 7 bit text based platform, so that 8 bit images have to be converted to 7 bit. This results in a much larger overhead especially with compressed image formats, hence the restriction on image size. This is unlikely to change.

If you want to send images, then upload them to a cloud based service like OneDrive or Google Drive, then share it and add the shared link to to your email. You can then send both images and video if required.

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-modern-internet-email-systems-still-uuencode-8-bit-to-7-bit-binary-attachments/679468

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:43:28 GMT

@Keith_Beddoewrote:
@Stephen5000
Email was designed to be a 7 bit text based platform, so that 8 bit images have to be converted to 7 bit. This results in a much larger overhead especially with compressed image formats, hence the restriction on image size. This is unlikely to change.
If you want to send images, then upload them to a cloud based service like OneDrive or Google Drive, then share it and add the shared link to to your email. You can then send both images and video if required.

I have a 'talk21' address which I signed up to in 1993 via an original 'Sky' box. Talk21 was so called because it was the planned communication system of the 21st century. In the following 29 years, it was passed around numerous providers before ending up currently with BT. I can confirm that in the hands of previous suppliers, there was no such limit imposed on an email body. It's only since BT had it, that every 2 to 3 weeks on a long email exchange, I get that error saying I have exceeded the limit. It's a very easy workaround in that you simply start off a brand new email exchange even though you then lose all the history.

There is no workaround I have found though to insert simple Jpeg/GIF into the body that exceeds 300Kb.

I don't do 'clouds', or GDrive, I like to keep my images on my computer, not some other blokes, and like the simplicity of when I send an email, the recipient can open it seeing what I sent instantly, without messing around trying to get it.

Yes, I'm well aware I'm a dinosaur, an analogue man in a digital world, but the only saving grace is that I'll probably not have much longer, and you young'uns can live the virtual lives you have all now been brought up to desire 😂

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:55:09 GMT

I am 70, so not exactly young, however I worked in telecommunications for nearly 42 years, starting 1968.

One of the forerunners of email was the obsolete BT Telecom Gold, which used the X25 Packet Switching network, that was in the 1970s, long before the Internet was invented.

Email is still a bit stuck in the past, as it has to be compatible with all email servers, including legacy ones.

Other form of messaging can cope with 8 bit data without encoding, so eventually email may itself become obsolete, as more secure forms of messaging are used. Email headers are easily faked, hence the number of people caught out by scammers.

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

licquorice — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:25:56 GMT

Its not a limitation of the email system, its just an imposed limit on BT webmail.

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

imjolly — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:31:13 GMT

@Stephen5000 wrote:

Yes, I'm well aware I'm a dinosaur, an analogue man in a digital world, but the only saving grace is that I'll probably not have much longer, and you young'uns can live the virtual lives you have all now been brought up to desire 😂

why does people think that because they consider themselves old that everyone else who posts on the forum must be young for the 'digital age' as @Keith_Beddoe has posted he is 70 and certainly not the oldest person posting assistance on the forum

@Stephen5000

Reminds me of a saying my old mum use to tell me, "if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all..." LOL

you must have led a very sheltered life - sorry to burst your bubble and bring you into the real world

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:32:08 GMT

@licquoricewrote:
Its not a limitation of the email system, its just an imposed limit on BT webmail.

Thank you for the confirmation, I knew previous custodians of my email didn't impose such a limit...

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

licquorice — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:36:33 GMT

You know exactly what I'm going to say next don't you?

It works just fine sending multi MB pictures in the body of an email using Outlook 2010

As a counterbalance, it also works just fine with inline pictures in Gmail

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:21:21 GMT

@imjolly **Edited**You have no idea what kind of life I have experienced, but 'sheltered' isn't the correct adjective.

Still I appreciate your input, and if you have liked my post, like I said before, just send me some money in the post, I don't do this for the craving of other peoples approval 🤣

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

gg30340 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:23:33 GMT

For information, the allocation of forum titles have nothing to do with the forum members. They are "allocated" by some sort of formula devised by the forum developers.

**Edited**

Re: Why is there a 300Kb limit on email body??

Stephen5000 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:25:13 GMT

@gg30340wrote:

For information, the allocation of forum titles have nothing to do with the forum members. They are "allocated" by some sort of formula devised by the forum developers.

**Edited**

I do know that LOL In a car forum I frequent, I am classed as a 'grand master', a hilarious title, allocated to my 5000+ posts, not my expertise at all! **Edited**