HTTP 414 — URI Too Long
HTTP 414
URI Too Long
The URL is longer than the server is prepared to parse.
What 414 actually means
Servers cap how long a request line can be — typically around 8 KB — and this URL exceeded it. The usual culprit is a GET request carrying data that should have been in a POST body: a search form with hundreds of parameters, a redirect loop appending to the query string each time round, or an oversized token stuffed into the URL. It is occasionally a symptom of an attempted buffer-overflow probe rather than an honest mistake.
Common causes
- A GET request with an enormous query string, often from a form using GET instead of POST
- A redirect loop appending parameters on every hop
- Session data or a long token passed in the URL
- Deeply nested filter or array parameters generated by a front-end framework
- A malicious request probing for buffer handling bugs
If you're just trying to view the page
- Shorten the URL, or navigate to the page through the site's own links instead of a hand-edited address
- Reduce the number of filters or selections if you are on a search or report page
- If it happened after clicking a link, the link is malformed — tell the site owner
If it's your site
- Change the form method from GET to POST when it can carry a lot of data
- Raise `large_client_header_buffers` in Nginx or `LimitRequestLine` in Apache if a legitimate use case needs it, but treat that as a last resort
- Look for redirect loops that append to the query string; they grow the URL until this fires
- Never put session tokens in URLs — they leak through referrers, logs and browser history as well as causing this
Reference
- Status code
- 414
- Reason phrase
- URI Too Long
- Category
- 4xx — Client Error
- Cacheable by default
- Yes
- Defined in
- RFC 9110 §15.5.15
Common questions
- What does HTTP 414 mean?
- The URL is longer than the server is prepared to parse. Servers cap how long a request line can be — typically around 8 KB — and this URL exceeded it. The usual culprit is a GET request carrying data that should have been in a POST body: a search form with hundreds of parameters, a redirect loop appending to the query string each time round, or an oversized token stuffed into the URL.
- How do I fix a 414 error?
- Shorten the URL, or navigate to the page through the site's own links instead of a hand-edited address
- Is 414 a client error or a server error?
- 414 is in the 4xx range, which means client error. The request itself was the problem, so retrying it unchanged will usually return the same code.
Related pages
- 404 Not Found The server is reachable and working, but there is nothing at the address you ask
- 403 Forbidden The server understood the request and is refusing to allow it, and logging in wi
- 401 Unauthorized You need to authenticate, and either you did not or your credentials were reject
- 429 Too Many Requests You have sent more requests than the service allows in a given period.
- 400 Bad Request The server could not understand the request because something about it is malfor
- 413 Content Too Large The request body is bigger than the server is willing to accept.
- 422 Unprocessable Content The request is well-formed and understood, but the data in it fails the rules.
- 405 Method Not Allowed The URL exists, but it does not accept the HTTP method you used.
- 409 Conflict The request cannot be completed because it clashes with the current state of the
- 415 Unsupported Media Type The server will not accept the format of the body you sent.
- 408 Request Timeout The server gave up waiting for the client to finish sending its request.
- 410 Gone The resource was deliberately removed and is not coming back, and there is no fo