Two numbers that mean different things
The 35 MB figure is the per-document ceiling: no single PDF may exceed it. The 100 MB figure is different in kind. The court advises keeping the combined size of all attachments in one filing at or below that, because a very large upload can time out before it finishes — an interrupted transfer rather than a rejected document.
The practical consequence is the same either way: a smaller file uploads faster and is less likely to fail partway. But it is worth knowing that one of these numbers is a rule about documents and the other is a caution about connections.
Why a filing gets this large
Thirty-five megabytes accommodates any ordinary text document many times over. Filings that exceed it are essentially always scanned material — exhibits, records, correspondence — or photographs.
Scan settings account for most of the difference. Color capture records three bytes per pixel where greyscale records one, and doubling resolution quadruples the pixel count. A page scanned at 600 DPI in color can be twenty times the size of the same page scanned sensibly.
Compression reverses that arithmetic on a file you have already got. Resampling the embedded images to a resolution appropriate for reading typically removes the bulk of the file while leaving the page legible, and leaves any genuine text in the document untouched.
Checking the limit yourself
CM/ECF reports its own current ceiling. From the CM/ECF startup page, the Court Information link shows the Maximum PDF File Size the system will accept at that moment. That figure is authoritative for the system you are actually filing into, and it is worth a look whenever a filing is refused for size — districts raise these limits without much announcement, and a number you remember from last year may simply be out of date.
If the file is an exhibit
Lossy compression alters a file. Every byte of the output differs from the input, even where the page looks identical on screen, and that can matter if the document's authenticity is ever contested. ShrinkWrit shows the SHA-256 hash of the file you started with and the file it produced, so the change is documented rather than invisible.
The lossless mode strips metadata and repacks the file without touching a single pixel or sample. It saves less, and on a heavily scanned document it may not reach the limit at all — but when it does, the image data is bit-for-bit what it was. Your original is never modified either way; the output is always a new file.
Common questions
- Is the Nebraska limit 35 MB or 100 MB?
- 35 MB is the per-document limit. The roughly 100 MB figure is the court's guidance on the aggregate size of attachments in one filing, given because large uploads can time out — not a second document ceiling.
- What happens if the upload times out?
- That is a transfer failure rather than a size rejection, but the outcome is the same: the filing does not complete. Smaller files transfer faster and are less exposed to it.
- How small should I target?
- Comfortably under the ceiling rather than a byte beneath it. ShrinkWrit lets you set any target in megabytes, so aiming a little low costs nothing and leaves room for the difference between how you and the system count a megabyte.
- Does compressing change the document's content?
- Lossy compression changes the stored image data — the page looks the same but the bytes differ. ShrinkWrit shows SHA-256 hashes of both files so the change is documented, and offers a lossless mode that leaves every pixel intact.
The 35 MB figure on this page was last checked against the court’s own notice on Jul 2026. Limits change without much announcement — confirm it at the source before you file.