Addressing "API Routes Response Size Limited to 4MB" Error in Next.js (2024)

This document explains the "API Routes Response Size Limited to 4MB" error in Next.js and guides developers on how to modify response size limits.

Why This Error Occurred

The "API Routes Response Size Limited to 4MB" error arises when your API Route is trying to send a response larger than the allowed size of 4MB. API Routes in Next.js are designed to deliver quick responses and are not built to support the transmission of large amounts of data.

Possible Ways to Fix It

If you are not utilizing Next.js in a serverless environment, and you're fully aware of the performance implications, you can disable this limit in your API Route. Here is how you can set responseLimit to false:

export const config = { api: { responseLimit: false, },}

Alternatively, responseLimit can also accept a numeric value (in bytes) or any string format supported by the bytes module. This can be a value like 1000, '500kb', or '3mb'. This value will set the maximum response size before a warning is displayed. For example, to set the limit to 8MB:

export const config = { api: { responseLimit: '8mb', },}

Note: Increasing the response limit can have significant impacts on performance and should only be done after careful consideration.