FeedBurner Feed Size Limit: Why Large RSS Feeds Stop Updating

If your FeedBurner feed suddenly stops showing new posts, check your feedburner feed size. FeedBurner will not process a source feed above its size limit, and it stops updating until the feed shrinks. A blogger friend hit exactly this problem, so here is what the limit is, how to check your feed, and how to make it smaller.

Quick answer: When this post was first written, FeedBurner’s limit was 512KB. Google’s help page now says FeedBurner won’t accept feeds larger than one megabyte, and it stops refreshing your burned feed until the original drops below that limit. The limit counts only the feed file itself, not linked images or media. Show fewer items or summaries in your feed to stay well under it.

The feedburner feed size limit

Google’s FeedBurner help page explains that FeedBurner will not accept feeds larger than one megabyte. If your existing source feed grows past that size, FeedBurner pauses updates to the “burned” version of your feed until the original is back under the limit. Back in 2009 the limit was 512KB, so it has doubled since then. The size applies to the feed file itself and does not include linked or embedded images or media files.

When I first checked, our own feed with 10 full-text posts was only 76KB, and big tech blogs with 25 to 40 full articles were around 100KB to 125KB. So for most bloggers the limit is high. You only hit it if you put a very large number of long full-text posts in your feed.

How huge RSS feeds happen

My friend was showing 100 long articles in his custom feed to give new subscribers lots of content, and his feed easily crossed 700KB, which was well over the limit at the time. I did something similar as a new blogger, until one day an RSS scraper republished our whole blog in one go.

Blogging tools make it easy to include hundreds of items. In WordPress, the number is set under Settings > Reading, in the option for how many recent items syndication feeds show:

Enter the number of recent posts you want, save, and your feed changes right away.

How to check and reduce your RSS feed size

1. Check the size: open your feed (on WordPress usually yoursite.com/feed/), save the page, and look at the file size. Your browser’s developer tools Network tab also shows the size of the feed request.
2. Show fewer items: 10 to 20 recent posts is plenty for feed readers.
3. Use summaries for long posts: in WordPress, choose to show an excerpt instead of the full text in feeds under Settings > Reading.
4. Clear your cache: caching plugins can serve an old copy of the feed; see how caching plugins can delay RSS feed updates.
5. Resync FeedBurner once your feed is smaller, so it fetches the new version. Our guide to fixing FeedBurner feeds not updating walks through it.

Why smaller feeds are better anyway

Huge feeds load slowly in browsers and feed readers. And if a scraper targets your long feed, it can republish hundreds of your posts at once. Learn more in our guide to stopping RSS feed scraping and content theft.

FAQ

What is the FeedBurner feed size limit?

Google’s help page says FeedBurner won’t accept feeds larger than one megabyte. In 2009 the limit was 512KB.

Do images count toward the feed size?

No. Only the feed file itself counts, not linked or embedded images or media files.

What happens if my feed is too big?

FeedBurner stops updating your burned feed and keeps showing the last valid version until your original feed is back under the limit.

How many posts should my RSS feed show?

For most blogs, 10 to 20 recent posts is enough and keeps the feed small and fast.