Will Gmail
clip your email?

Gmail truncates HTML emails larger than roughly 102KB and replaces the rest with a '[Message clipped] View entire message' link. The cut counts only the HTML source — images load separately and don't count, but every byte of markup, inline CSS and hidden preheader padding does.

Three compounding problems: your CTA and unsubscribe link usually live at the bottom — exactly the part that disappears; a hidden unsubscribe link is a compliance problem and pushes frustrated readers to the spam button instead; and the open-tracking pixel typically sits at the end too, so clipped emails read as 'never opened' in your stats.

Almost never the visible text. The usual culprits: editor-generated markup (drag-and-drop builders emit 5–10× the HTML a hand-coded template needs), repeated inline styles on every table cell, embedded fonts, huge copy-pasted Word/Docs fragments, and base64-encoded images stuffed directly into the HTML — the single fastest way to blow the budget.

Cold email should never get near the limit — a plain-text-looking message is 2–10KB. If your cold email weighs 50KB, the problem isn't clipping, it's that it looks like a newsletter: heavy markup and low text-to-HTML ratio are themselves filter signals.

Gmail's 102KB is the famous one because Gmail is everywhere. Outlook and Apple Mail render large emails without clipping (slowly), and some apps truncate at their own thresholds. Staying under 100KB keeps you safe across the board.