[Lowfer] Reminder- Attachmnt+message size limit 50KB

[Doug Reed]

Just another reminder that QSL.net limits the total message size to
50KB, including any attachments. Several people had messages bounce
last night because of the limit and most of them were over
500KB.

The essential problem is that email is a 7-bit ASCII format while
image file attachments are 8-bit binary. Your email program will
automatically convert binary files into a special format using just
ASCII text characters, but when this happens, the file size grows by
about 12%. Essentially, the email program takes every 7 extra bits and
stuffs them into an extra ASCII character in the text. I expect the
problem is even worse if your email program is sending HTML text or
using UTF-8 or other international character formats. Those formats
are all larger than plain ASCII text.

If you want to attach a file to your email, I recommend you try to
edit it down to 40-45KB or less before you attach it. I also recommend
you ALWAYS choose "plain text" format when composing any email to the
QSL.net remailers. Many email programs have a configuration option
that can be set for each destination address that says what email
format to use for that destination.

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.
LOWFER volunteer list admin.