Why do email attachments have size limits?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Reduce server load
Save storage space — Wrong. Storage matters, but main issue is email servers processing and transmitting millions of messages—large attachments create bottlenecks.
Protect user privacy — Wrong. Size limits aren't about privacy. They prevent server overload and ensure email delivery speed for all users.
Reduce server load ✓ — Correct! Email servers handle millions of messages. Large attachments consume bandwidth, slow delivery, and overload servers. Typical limits: 25MB (Gmail), 20MB (Outlook). Original email protocol (SMTP) wasn't designed for large files! Instead, use cloud storage links (Google Drive, Dropbox) for big files—recipients download directly from file servers, not email servers!
More Technology questions
- Why can Cloudflare's lava-lamp camera feed improve encryption even though the cryptographic software that consumes it is deterministic?
- If an attacker learns a pseudorandom generator's seed and algorithm after watching several outputs, why can the later outputs become reconstructable?
- If a phone game shuffle and a physical noise source both look messy, what makes only one useful for security against someone who knows the code?
- At parking-lot speed, why do quiet EVs need alert sounds before tire noise helps?
- Why does the Ferrari 296 cabin sound duct take sound before exhaust treatment?
- Why do sound engineers tune engine orders instead of just making a Ferrari-like exhaust louder?
