# Send big files in splitted email

**URL:** <https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121>\
**Category:** Feature Proposal\
**Created:** [June 18, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121 "2022-06-18T11:53:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kugelfee](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/kugelfee/32/1500_2.png) [@kugelfee](https://forum.delta.chat/u/kugelfee)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121/1 "2022-06-18T11:53:40Z")

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Would be cool to send big files in splitted mails. No need for any external services or something else - just email.

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**Author:** ![link2xt](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/link2xt/32/1971_2.png) [@link2xt](https://forum.delta.chat/u/link2xt)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121/2 "2022-06-18T16:03:45Z")

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Related topic:

> [@Smarter message size limit](https://support.delta.chat/t/smarter-message-size-limit/1802/4):
>
> I think fragmenting the message is the best solution. It is probably not widely supported, but at least there is a standard which Delta Chat can implement to avoid reinventing the wheel:

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**Author:** ![link2xt](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/link2xt/32/1971_2.png) [@link2xt](https://forum.delta.chat/u/link2xt)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121/3 "2023-10-14T00:53:26Z")

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Let’s move discussion from [Smarter message size limit - #4 by link2xt](https://support.delta.chat/t/smarter-message-size-limit/1802/4) here.

While RFC [RFC 2046 - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2046#section-5.2.2) for fragmented mails exists, it is not widely supported e.g. by Web mail clients and Thunderbird.  
One option to stay somewhat compatible would be to use split Zip files instead. Reconstructing Zip files from segments is better known than fragmented email.

For users with bad connection who cannot _download_ large files, IMAP allows to request parts of the file with `FETCH` command requesting `BODY[]<0.2048>` to get the first 2 kB, then `BODY[]<2049.4096>` to get the next 4 kB and so on. This will allow to download large files without starting from scratch even if the connection drops in between. This would not help for message sending though and cannot bypass the mail server file size limitation, but may be worth implementing in any case as everyone sometimes receives large attachments that are difficult to download over a bad Wi-Fi connection in one go.

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**Author:** ![Simon](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/simon/32/287_2.png) [@Simon](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Simon)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121/4 "2023-10-14T00:56:09Z")

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partial fetching of body could also make showing a progress bar on downloading a large message easier

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**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/send-big-files-in-splitted-email/2121/5 "2026-02-16T22:44:19Z")

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