Customizing the PHP settings using the php.ini file

Valid for Linux Web Hosting and Managed Dedicated Servers.

With your own php.ini file, you can customize PHP settings such as the upload limit for your website. This guide shows you how to create the configuration file, upload it to your web space, and check that the changes have been successfully applied.

What is a php.ini file?

The php.ini is a configuration file for PHP. It consists of simple text instructions, the so-called directives, which are structured according to the scheme directive = value.

You can use a php.ini file to customize PHP settings for your website. For example, you can increase the upload limit for files, or activate server-side compression to optimize the loading time of your website.

Here is an example of a php.ini configuration:

upload_max_filesize = 128M
zlib.output_compression=1
zlib.output_compression_level=9

The entries explained:

• upload_max_filesize = 128M: Increases the maximum file size for uploads to 128 megabytes (default: 64 MB).
• zlib.output_compression = 1: Activates data compression to speed up your website. The value 1 stands for "On".
• zlib.output_compression_level = 9: Defines the compression level (scale from 1 to 9).

Customize PHP settings in 3 steps

Step 1: Create php.ini file

• Open a simple text editor (e.g. Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on macOS).

• Insert the desired configuration instructions. Write each instruction on a new line. An example:

  upload_max_filesize = 128M
  zlib.output_compression = 1
  zlib.output_compression_level = 9

• Save the file under the name php.ini. Make sure that no additional extension, such as .txt, is appended.

Step 2: Upload php.ini file

Upload the created php.ini file to the directory in your webspace where you want the settings to apply. You can use Webspace Explorer or an SFTP program such as FileZilla to do this.

Instructions for uploading files can be found here:
Uploading a file using Webspace Explorer
Transferring files with FileZilla using SFTP

Step 3: Check the effectiveness of the changes

To check whether your new settings are active, you can display the PHP system information:

• Create a new file with the name info.php and the following content:

  <?php phpinfo(); ?>

• Upload this file to the same directory where your php.ini is located.
• Open the page in your browser according to the following scheme: https://domain.tld/path/info.php. Adjust your domain name and the path to info.php accordingly.
• The script displays all active PHP settings. Use your browser's search function (Ctrl + F or Cmd + F) to quickly find the directive you have changed.