Fix Nginx File Upload Limit on AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Docker Platform)

Problem

Nginx blocks file uploads over 1MB by default, returning 413 Request Entity Too Large.

Solution

The fix depends on which Elastic Beanstalk platform you're using.

Java platform → use .ebextensions/nginx.config (see this thread)

Docker platform → keep reading.

Docker Platform Fix

If you're deploying by pushing an image to Docker Hub and uploading only Dockerrun.aws.json to EB, use the .platform directory to override Nginx config.

Step 1 — Create the config file

Create .platform/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf at your project root:

client_max_body_size 100M;

Step 2 — Zip the deployment bundle

For Mac users: Don't right-click → Compress. It adds hidden __MACOSX/ files that break the deployment. Use the terminal:

zip eb-deploy.zip Dockerrun.aws.json .platform/nginx/conf.d/proxy.conf

Step 3 — Upload to Elastic Beanstalk

Upload eb-deploy.zip to your EB environment. Elastic Beanstalk will automatically pick up the config and apply it to Nginx.

File Structure

your-project/
├── Dockerrun.aws.json
└── .platform/
    └── nginx/
        └── conf.d/
            └── proxy.conf