Question

I’m running WP 3.0.1 on a shared host using PHP5. I’m having issues uploading files that are a little larger via the media uploader in the admin section of WP.

Every time I try to upload a file thats over a few megabytes, it uploads, says its crunching, then gives me a big red “HTTP Error.” – nothing more.

This only happens on files that are a little larger – ie a 20mb .mp3 file. A 5mb file seems to work fine. Whats weird is in the past we’ve uploaded 40mb files without a problem.

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Here’s the steps I’ve taken so far to try and remedy the situation:

1. Double checked php.ini to ensure increase upload, post and memory size were high enough.
2. Updated .htaccess to include filter the security mod I found elsewhere.
3. Double checked all file permissions via ftp to ensure they were 755.
4. Called the host – “They don’t support 3rd party scripts” (I hate IPower)
5. Tried with different audio files of similar size.
6. Disabled all plugins

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Do you guys have any more ideas regarding what might be causing the vague “HTTP Error.” problem?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The problem, as you’ve already inferred, is in the size of your file upload. Just to remind you, HTTP isn’t really built for transferring large files … it can do it, but not always, and not very well. You’re running into an issue where your host is cutting off the transfer because the file is too large. It’s most likely a server setting somewhere that you don’t have access to.

Since “they don’t support 3rd party scripts” I’m guessing you’re in a shared hosting environment, which is why something could change on your server without you doing anything. Possible solutions:

1. Get a different host
2. Use a dedicated server
3. Transfer your larger files via FTP rather than from within WordPress.