HTTP 413 Content Too Large

The request body exceeds what the server will accept. Still widely known by its old reason phrase, Payload Too Large.

Defined in RFC 9110 §15.5.14 — 413 Content Too Large · MDN reference

RFC 7231 called this "Payload Too Large"; RFC 9110 renamed it. Both refer to the same code.

Where you meet HTTP 413 in production

File uploads past a limit, oversized JSON payloads, batch requests with too many items — often enforced by a proxy before the application ever sees the request.

Why you would test it

Test at the boundary, not far past it. A client that streams uploads may fail differently from one that buffers.

What your client should do about a 413

Do not retry the same payload. Compress it, chunk it, or reject it client-side with a clear message. Check the limit before uploading where the API publishes one; failing at the browser is far cheaper than failing after a 40 MB upload.

413 versus the codes it gets confused with

• 413 vs 400 Bad Request — A 400 says the request was malformed. A 413 says it was well-formed and too big.
• 413 vs 414 — 414 is specifically an over-long URI — usually a GET that should have been a POST.

Endpoints that return 413

1 endpoint in this playground answers with 413. Every one is free, needs no signup, and can be called from the browser or with curl.

• POST https://funapi.dev/api/movies/v1/movies/{id}/poster — sizeBytes over the 5 MB limit (Movies API) Open & run this endpoint

Questions about HTTP 413

Who enforces the limit?

Often a reverse proxy or gateway, which is why a 413 can arrive without any application log line to match it.

Can the server say what the limit is?

It should, in the body — and a Retry-After is appropriate if the limit is temporary.

Other client error codes

• 400 Bad Request
• 401 Unauthorized
• 402 Payment Required
• 403 Forbidden
• 404 Not Found
• 405 Method Not Allowed
• 406 Not Acceptable
• 409 Conflict

All HTTP status codes · All 39 mock REST APIs · Getting started guide

Last updated 6 September 2026