CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE - Man Page

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE, long size);

Pass a long as parameter. This specifies the maximum accepted size (in bytes) of a file to download. If the file requested is found larger than this value, the transfer is aborted and CURLE_FILESIZE_EXCEEDED is returned. Passing a zero size disables this, and passing a negative size yields a CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT.

The file size is not always known prior to the download start, and for such transfers this option has no effect - even if the file transfer eventually ends up being larger than this given limit.

If you want a limit above 2GB, use CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE_LARGE(3).

Since 8.4.0, this option also stops ongoing transfers if they reach this threshold.

0, meaning disabled.

This functionality affects all supported protocols

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode ret;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com/");
    /* refuse to download if larger than 1000 bytes! */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE, 1000L);
    ret = curl_easy_perform(curl);
  }
}

Added in curl 7.10.8

Returns CURLE_OK if the size passed is valid or CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT if not.

CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE_LARGE(3), CURLOPT_MAX_RECV_SPEED_LARGE(3)

curl_easy_setopt(3), CURLINFO_SIZE_DOWNLOAD(3), CURLINFO_SIZE_DOWNLOAD_T(3), CURLOPT_BUFFERSIZE(3), CURLOPT_MAXFILESIZE_LARGE(3), CURLOPT_TFTP_BLKSIZE(3), libcurl-symbols(3).