The Plivo SMS API supports sending picture messages (a.k.a. MMS or multimedia messages) by adding a media_urls or media_id parameter to your API request and setting the type parameter to MMS.
Supported file types
Plivo supports the following file formats for media_urls attachments:
- JPEG
- PNG
- GIF
Plivo also accepts several additional file formats as media_urls attachments but does not format them for compatibility with the destination device. For a comprehensive list of supported media formats, please refer to our documentation.
File size limitations
For multimedia attachments, the file size limit for media_urls attachments depends on the receiving carrier.
File Size Guidelines for Top Four US-Based Carriers:
Carrier |
Long Code |
Toll-Free |
Short Code |
Operators |
MMS attachment size |
MMS attachment size |
MMS attachment size |
AT&T |
0.675MB |
0.750MB |
0.600MB |
Sprint |
1.400MB |
0.750MB |
1.400MB |
T-Mobile |
1.500MB |
0.750MB |
1.000MB |
Verizon |
0.675MB |
0.750MB |
1.200MB |
For other carriers within the US, we recommend using attachments no larger than 600KB when sending files that are not JPEG, PNG, or GIF images.
File Size Guidelines for Canadian Carriers:
In Canada, carriers recommend using MMS attachments smaller than 1MB across all networks. This guideline helps ensure broad compatibility and optimal delivery of multimedia messages across various mobile networks in Canada.
How many attachments does Plivo support?
Plivo supports up to 10 attachments (with a combination of media_urls and media_ids) with a maximum of 2MB per attachment, as long as the total size of the message body text and all attachments is less than 5MB. An MMS message body can be up to 1,600 characters long, which equals 4.8KB or roughly 1% of the total size limit.
If your message (including body text and media) is larger than 5MB, your message request will fail with Plivo error code 120.
If you have more than 10 attachments, Plivo will fail your message request with an HTTP status code of 400.
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If your MMS exceeds the file size limit, Plivo will fail the message with a Plivo error code of 120.
Incoming MMS messages
Plivo supports up to 10 incoming media attachments, as long as the total size of the message body text and all attachments is less than 7MB. If the total size exceeds this limit, Plivo will not process the message.