diff --git a/pillar/api/file_storage/__init__.py b/pillar/api/file_storage/__init__.py
index 432c1ce1..6705ebd3 100644
--- a/pillar/api/file_storage/__init__.py
+++ b/pillar/api/file_storage/__init__.py
@@ -639,6 +639,14 @@ def stream_to_storage(project_id):
     log.info('Streaming file to bucket for project=%s user_id=%s', project_id,
              authentication.current_user_id())
     log.info('request.headers[Origin] = %r', request.headers.get('Origin'))
+    log.info('request.content_length = %r', request.content_length)
+
+    # Try a check for the content length before we access request.files[]. This allows us
+    # to abort the upload early. The entire body content length is always a bit larger than
+    # the actual file size, so if we accept here, we're sure it'll be accepted in subsequent
+    # checks as well.
+    if request.content_length:
+        assert_file_size_allowed(request.content_length)
 
     uploaded_file = request.files['file']
 
diff --git a/src/scripts/file_upload.js b/src/scripts/file_upload.js
index a56e3833..6dbd8012 100644
--- a/src/scripts/file_upload.js
+++ b/src/scripts/file_upload.js
@@ -70,10 +70,6 @@ function setup_file_uploader(index, upload_element) {
             if (data.originalFiles[0]['type'].length && !acceptFileTypes.test(data.originalFiles[0]['type'])) {
                 uploadErrors.push('Not an accepted file type');
             }
-            // Limit upload size to 1GB
-            if (data.originalFiles[0]['size'] && data.originalFiles[0]['size'] > 1262485504) {
-                uploadErrors.push('Filesize is too big');
-            }
             if (uploadErrors.length > 0) {
                 $(this).parent().parent().addClass('error');
                 $(this).after(uploadErrors.join("\n"));
@@ -118,11 +114,21 @@ function setup_file_uploader(index, upload_element) {
 
             $('body').trigger('file-upload:finished');
         },
-        fail: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
+        fail: function (jqXHR, fileupload) {
             if (console) {
-                console.log(textStatus, 'Upload error: ' + errorThrown);
+                console.log('Upload error:');
+                console.log('jqXHR', jqXHR);
+                console.log('fileupload', fileupload);
             }
-            statusBarSet(textStatus, 'Upload error: ' + errorThrown, 'pi-attention', 8000);
+
+            var uploadErrors = [];
+            for (var key in fileupload.messages) {
+                uploadErrors.push(fileupload.messages[key]);
+            }
+
+            statusBarSet('error',
+                         'Upload error: ' + uploadErrors.join("; "),
+                         'pi-attention', 16000);
 
             set_progress_bar(100, 'progress-error');