qax-os/excelize · error

unzip size exceeds the

Error message

unzip size exceeds the %d bytes limit

What it means

Excelize enforces a limit on the total uncompressed size of the parts of an XLSX (Zip) archive when opening files, set via SetUnzipSizeLimit. This error is thrown when the decompressed size of the workbook's contents exceeds that limit, to prevent zip-bomb style memory exhaustion.

Solutions

1. Raise the limit with excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(largerBytes) before opening the file, sized to your largest expected workbook.
2. Audit the workbook for unexpectedly huge embedded media or duplicated sheets; strip unneeded parts.
3. If the file is truly enormous, split it into smaller workbooks or stream-process sheet data instead of loading it whole.
4. Verify no other code path in the process lowered the global unzip limit (it is package-level, not per-file).

Example fix

// before
excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(16 << 20) // 16 MiB, too small
f, err := excelize.OpenFile("big.xlsx")
// after
excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(1 << 30) // 1 GiB
f, err := excelize.OpenFile("big.xlsx")

func openWithSizeLimit(path string, limit int64) (*excelize.File, error) {
    if st, err := os.Stat(path); err == nil && st.Size() > limit*50 {
        // compressed size hints at a likely zip-bomb; refuse early
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("file %s suspiciously large for limit %d", path, limit)
    }
    excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(limit)
    return excelize.OpenFile(path)
}

f, err := excelize.OpenFile(path)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unzip size exceeds") {
        log.Printf("workbook %s exceeds unzip limit; raising limit or splitting file", path)
        excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(1 << 30)
        f, err = excelize.OpenFile(path)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling f.Open / f.OpenReader on a workbook whose decompressed parts total more than the value previously passed to excelize.SetUnzipSizeLimit(n).

Common situations: Processing very large workbooks with a low (or previously lowered) size limit; shared pipelines where one job lowered the global limit; archives with many embedded images or sheets.

Related errors

• base field does not exist in shared items
• data fields appear both in the pivot table column fields…
• data fields appear both in the pivot table row fields and…
• ErrOutlineLevel
• ErrPageSetupAdjustTo

AI-assisted analysis of qax-os/excelize@f2483381fb (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c97c8a242683d14b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at errors.go:417

	return fmt.Errorf("unknown operator: %s", token)
}

// newUnsupportedChartType defined the error message on receiving the chart
// type are unsupported.
func newUnsupportedChartType(chartType ChartType) error {
	return fmt.Errorf("unsupported chart type %d", chartType)
}

// newUnsupportedPivotCacheSourceType defined the error message on receiving the
// source type of pivot table cache.
func newUnsupportedPivotCacheSourceType(sourceType string) error {
	return fmt.Errorf("unsupported pivot table cache source type: %s", sourceType)
}

// newUnzipSizeLimitError defined the error message on unzip size exceeds the
// limit.
func newUnzipSizeLimitError(unzipSizeLimit int64) error {
	return fmt.Errorf("unzip size exceeds the %d bytes limit", unzipSizeLimit)
}

// newViewIdxError defined the error message on receiving a invalid sheet view
// index.
func newViewIdxError(viewIndex int) error {
	return fmt.Errorf("view index %d out of range", viewIndex)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f2483381fb)