Sending photos, video, audio and PDFs from the inbox, with the formats and size limits each channel accepts.
Last updated: September 30, 2026
A customer asks to see the back of a product and you want to drop the photo into the chat. The inbox does that with the paperclip next to the message box — but the formats and sizes Meta accepts are different on each channel. This guide covers sending a file and the limits around it.
⚠️ Sending a file needs the 24-hour messaging window to be open, exactly like text. When the window is closed the paperclip is not there at all; a template picker or a warning line stands in its place. See The 24-hour messaging window.
The file does not leave until you press Send. That is deliberate: there is no way to take back the wrong photo, so a step sits between picking and sending.
After you press Send, a circular indicator appears where the bubble will be and the upload continues in the background. You can switch to another conversation, or even leave the inbox — the send finishes on its own.
One message carries one file. To send three photos, pick and press Send three times; each becomes its own bubble.
Instead of uploading the same file over and over, you can keep it in the library. When the library is switched on, a second button appears next to the paperclip; a file picked there waits in the same way, so you can back out if you tapped the wrong thumbnail.
A file from the library is not uploaded again; it is sent straight away. For files you send often, such as a price list or a catalogue, that saves both time and data. Seeing the library needs the media permission; without it, only the paperclip appears.
What you type in the message box becomes the file's caption, up to 1000 characters.
Limits differ per channel and per file type. The file picker already narrows the list to what that channel accepts, but a file you drag in from your computer may still fall outside it.
⚠️ These lists are Meta's own limits and follow their documentation. A format that is not on the list — GIF, WebP, a Word document, a ZIP, or MP3 on Instagram — is refused. That is a restriction on Meta's side and it applies to every tool built on their API.
The panel does not look at the extension; it reads the first bytes of the file. A PNG renamed to photo.pdf is recognised as a PNG and judged by the PNG rule.
That has two consequences:
The file is published on our own domain at an address nobody can guess, and Meta downloads it from there to deliver it. Uploads that are never sent are deleted after a day.
A furniture shop is sending fabric options to a customer writing on WhatsApp:
fabrics.jpg with the paperclip (2.4 MB, under WhatsApp's 5 MB limit).Had they sent it on Instagram, the customer would have seen two bubbles: the photo first, then the text.
Getting an "unsupported file" warning. The format is not on that channel's list. The three most common cases: sending an MP3 to Instagram, sending a GIF to either channel, and sending a WebP photo. Convert to JPEG, PNG or MP4 and try again.
Getting a "file too large" warning. Limits differ per channel and per type; check the two lists above. For video, lowering the resolution is the quickest fix.
Being surprised that the caption arrives as a separate message. On Instagram that is the expected behaviour.
Picking a file and forgetting to press Send. If the chip is still above the message box, the file has not gone anywhere.
Not being able to download a file the customer sent. Incoming attachments are shown from Meta's own addresses and those addresses do not live forever. Download anything you want to keep on the day it arrives.
When a file fails to send, the reason and a Retry link appear under the bubble; the list of reasons is in Message could not be sent. To read the state of a sent file, see Message statuses.
If sending files keeps failing, contact our Support team.
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