Do not select the entire parent folder. Divide your download into smaller chunks. Select 5 to 10 files at a time instead of 50.
, the browser-based zip download is the bottleneck. Installing the desktop application allows the service to sync files individually using specialized protocols that handle hundreds of gigabytes without zipping. 2. Download in Batches
'files_zip_max_size' => 10737418240, 'files_zip_uncompressed_max_size' => 10737418240, Use code with caution. total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly
Bonus tip: For web servers with “zip on the fly” plugins (like cPanel’s), the limit often exists to prevent memory overload. Splitting respects both server resources and file size restrictions.
In your server configuration (such as php.ini or node settings), increase the memory limit and execution time. Do not select the entire parent folder
Simply telling Nextcloud to allow larger ZIP downloads is only half the battle. If your underlying PHP configuration timeouts or memory limits are too restrictive, the download will still fail midway through the process. Ensure you audit the following server configurations:
She uploaded all 8 parts to the cloud and sent the links. The client downloaded them one by one, combined them with 7-Zip, and got the full folder. , the browser-based zip download is the bottleneck
The “total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly” error message is a clear signal that you've outgrown your web-based file manager's capabilities. The most effective path forward is to or utilize SSH .
Traditional methods such as PHP's ZipArchive often require loading the entire archive into memory or writing it to a temporary file on disk. For true on‑the‑fly streaming, dedicated streaming libraries are far more memory‑efficient.
"total size of requested files is too large for ziponthefly typically occurs when you attempt to download a massive collection of files (often exceeding 100 GB) from an online archive or repository that generates ZIP files in real-time Hacker News
The server paused. Then, a red line crawled across the screen: