Instead of selecting the root folder or clicking "Download All," open the folder and select smaller groups of files. Download them in increments that stay safely under the server's threshold. 2. Use a Desktop Sync Client
How to Fix the "Total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly" Error
Instead of selecting the entire folder (e.g., public_html ), select sub-folders or groups of files individually.
Run the following commands from your terminal (adjust the web server user, e.g., www-data or apache , and the path to match your server setup):
| User type | Action | |-----------|--------| | | Download fewer files at once. Contact site admin. | | Site owner (non-technical) | Ask hosting support to increase PHP limits. Or switch to a plugin that pre-generates ZIPs. | | Developer | Replace ZipOnTheFly with ZipStream-PHP, pre-generated cron ZIPs, or cloud signed URLs. | | Agency / enterprise | Implement a dedicated download server (e.g., using Nginx’s X-Accel or Apache’s X-SendFile ) for large static ZIPs. | total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly
You can adjust the global upload limit for all cPanel users through WHM:
The error message "total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly
The quickest workaround is to have users download fewer files at once. For example, instead of selecting 50 files (500MB total), ask them to split into two separate ZIPs of 250MB each. This is often a change in user behavior, not code.
Then check the PHP error log. If you see Allowed memory size exhausted , it’s memory. If you see Maximum execution time exceeded , it’s time. Instead of selecting the root folder or clicking
Additionally, if you are using Nginx as a reverse proxy, ensure proxy_buffering is disabled to avoid memory blowouts:
To avoid encountering the "Total size of requested files is too large for ZipOnTheFly" error in the future, follow these best practices:
If you see this in Microsoft Teams, users have reported success by opening the folder in a web browser like Chrome to trigger the download differently.
"Zip on the fly," or streaming compression, is a memory-saving technique where a server compresses files and sends them to the user's browser simultaneously, without saving the full ZIP file to the server's disk first. The total size limit it can handle is constrained by several server-side factors (memory, execution time, hardcoded limits). Use a Desktop Sync Client How to Fix
Run the following dynamic configuration commands using the occ tool:
If you need to download the files immediately without changing server settings, use these strategies:
No memory limit issues, extremely fast download, reduces server load. Cons: Consumes disk storage, requires cron setup.