In this post I talk about the "exceeds the maximum upload size for this site." WordPress error message and the solution.

WordPress is giving you the error message, but it's actually a hosting account limit that's affecting your upload and causing the 'problem'. To see your hosting account setting using the phpinfo.php file.

Here's an actual example:
"Maximum upload file size: 8MB. After a file has been uploaded, you can add titles and descriptions. gangnam.mp3 exceeds the maximum upload size for this site."

The 'Maximum upload file size' is a limit determined by your hosting company.

Manual solution

Most hosting companies allow you to upload a php5.ini file to adjust this limit. So if we upload a php5.ini file to the directory of your hosting account where you will upload your large files, the uploading process will function properly and no error messages will appear. Some hosting companies, like Godaddy, already put a php5.ini file on your you account, which you would have to modify rather than uploading a new php5.ini file. You may have read other tutorials similar to this one that aren't working. Many old tutorials instruct you to upload a 'php.ini' file, but since php has upgraded to php5, you how have to save your ini file as a 'php5.ini' file name.

Note: Godaddy's max file size upload limit is 192mb.

Here is the text you should create in a text file (Notepad).

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register_globals=off;
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upload_max_filesize = 30M
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post_max_size = 30M
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Note: Adjust the file size to be larger than the files you will be uploading then save the notepad file as 'php5.ini' to your desktop. Here are some instructions on how to upload a file using ftp.