Many WordPress users find their shared hosting plans do not allow them to add large files to their WordPress sites. They are often capped at 8 or 20 MB, but some hosts go as low as 2 MB making it difficult to include just about any media. Our dedicated server and hosting allows for up to 64 MB and you can ask us to increase it for you, or you can increase it at any time.
Typically the way to get around that upload limit is to use a FTP program to add the files to your site manually. The downside to this method is these files won’t appear in your WordPress “Media Library” for easy management and adding to your posts.
There is a handy plugin called Add From Server by Dion Hulse that allows you to easily add files you’ve uploaded via FTP to your WordPress Media Library. In the Media section of your control panel, you’ll find a file browser that lets you easily find the files on your server and add them. It also adds a new tab to the media light box that you use while editing a page/post so you can add files right when you need to.
So with the Add From Server plugin, you can have inexpensive hosting and large file uploads too.
Tansel November 15, 2013
It’s broken. Do you know any other alternatives.
Bill Robbins November 15, 2013
I saw your post in the WordPress.org support forum and thought I’d give the plugin a quick test on my own site. It still works for me. It’s possible that the plugin is dependent on a server library or capability that isn’t installed by your host or another local issue.
As a way around it, you can typically use the URL to your file directly in WordPress. About the only thing you can’t do is include an image in a WordPress gallery that way. Most other spots like custom fields and theme options will let you just enter the URL to your file. The URL path will be determined by where you’ve uploaded the file to your server. If you add it to the wp-content/uploads folder then the path would be:
which you could then use in the spot where you need the file to be. If you do need it for a gallery, I don’t know a workaround there.