diff --git a/demo/payload.config.js b/demo/payload.config.js
index 1aab41a46e..7907424ae8 100644
--- a/demo/payload.config.js
+++ b/demo/payload.config.js
@@ -122,5 +122,10 @@ module.exports = {
       console.error('global error config handler', err);
     },
   },
+  upload: {
+    limits: {
+      fileSize: 10000000, // 10MB
+    },
+  },
   webpack: (config) => config,
 };
diff --git a/src/client/components/forms/Form/errorMessages.js b/src/client/components/forms/Form/errorMessages.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0f692e880e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/client/components/forms/Form/errorMessages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export default {
+  413: 'Your request was too large to submit successfully.',
+};
diff --git a/src/client/components/forms/Form/index.js b/src/client/components/forms/Form/index.js
index b25ddda4aa..ba7a674bc5 100644
--- a/src/client/components/forms/Form/index.js
+++ b/src/client/components/forms/Form/index.js
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import getSiblingDataFunc from './getSiblingData';
 import getDataByPathFunc from './getDataByPath';
 import wait from '../../../../utilities/wait';
 import buildInitialState from './buildInitialState';
+import errorMessages from './errorMessages';
 
 import { SubmittedContext, ProcessingContext, ModifiedContext, FormContext, FieldContext } from './context';
 
@@ -148,11 +149,16 @@ const Form = (props) => {
 
       if (typeof handleResponse === 'function') return handleResponse(res);
 
-      const json = await res.json();
 
       setProcessing(false);
       clearStatus();
 
+      const contentType = res.headers.get('content-type');
+      const isJSON = contentType && contentType.indexOf('application/json') !== -1;
+
+      let json = {};
+      if (isJSON) json = await res.json();
+
       if (res.status < 400) {
         setSubmitted(false);
 
@@ -177,7 +183,7 @@ const Form = (props) => {
           history.push(destination);
         } else if (!disableSuccessStatus) {
           replaceStatus([{
-            message: json.message,
+            message: json.message || 'Submission successful.',
             type: 'success',
             disappear: 3000,
           }]);
@@ -223,8 +229,10 @@ const Form = (props) => {
           return json;
         }
 
+        const message = errorMessages[res.status] || 'An unknown error occurrred.';
+
         addStatus({
-          message: 'An unknown error occurred.',
+          message,
           type: 'error',
         });
       }
diff --git a/src/collections/operations/create.js b/src/collections/operations/create.js
index dc10a42347..630847b2f9 100644
--- a/src/collections/operations/create.js
+++ b/src/collections/operations/create.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const crypto = require('crypto');
 
 const executeAccess = require('../../auth/executeAccess');
 
-const { MissingFile } = require('../../errors');
+const { MissingFile, FileUploadError } = require('../../errors');
 const resizeAndSave = require('../../uploads/imageResizer');
 const getSafeFilename = require('../../uploads/getSafeFilename');
 const getImageSize = require('../../uploads/getImageSize');
@@ -116,18 +116,23 @@ async function create(args) {
 
     const fsSafeName = await getSafeFilename(staticPath, file.name);
 
-    await file.mv(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
+    try {
+      await file.mv(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
 
-    if (imageMIMETypes.indexOf(file.mimetype) > -1) {
-      const dimensions = await getImageSize(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
-      fileData.width = dimensions.width;
-      fileData.height = dimensions.height;
+      if (imageMIMETypes.indexOf(file.mimetype) > -1) {
+        const dimensions = await getImageSize(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
+        fileData.width = dimensions.width;
+        fileData.height = dimensions.height;
 
-      if (Array.isArray(imageSizes) && file.mimetype !== 'image/svg+xml') {
-        fileData.sizes = await resizeAndSave(staticPath, collectionConfig, fsSafeName, fileData.mimeType);
+        if (Array.isArray(imageSizes) && file.mimetype !== 'image/svg+xml') {
+          fileData.sizes = await resizeAndSave(staticPath, collectionConfig, fsSafeName, fileData.mimeType);
+        }
       }
+    } catch (err) {
+      throw new FileUploadError(err);
     }
 
+
     fileData.filename = fsSafeName;
     fileData.filesize = file.size;
     fileData.mimeType = file.mimetype;
diff --git a/src/collections/operations/update.js b/src/collections/operations/update.js
index b8852f6b32..9241d04fb5 100644
--- a/src/collections/operations/update.js
+++ b/src/collections/operations/update.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const path = require('path');
 
 const overwriteMerge = require('../../utilities/overwriteMerge');
 const executeAccess = require('../../auth/executeAccess');
-const { NotFound, Forbidden, APIError } = require('../../errors');
+const { NotFound, Forbidden, APIError, FileUploadError } = require('../../errors');
 const imageMIMETypes = require('../../uploads/imageMIMETypes');
 const getImageSize = require('../../uploads/getImageSize');
 const getSafeFilename = require('../../uploads/getSafeFilename');
@@ -160,22 +160,27 @@ async function update(args) {
     if (file) {
       const fsSafeName = await getSafeFilename(staticPath, file.name);
 
-      await file.mv(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
+      try {
+        await file.mv(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
 
-      fileData.filename = fsSafeName;
-      fileData.filesize = file.size;
-      fileData.mimeType = file.mimetype;
+        fileData.filename = fsSafeName;
+        fileData.filesize = file.size;
+        fileData.mimeType = file.mimetype;
 
-      if (imageMIMETypes.indexOf(file.mimetype) > -1) {
-        const dimensions = await getImageSize(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
-        fileData.width = dimensions.width;
-        fileData.height = dimensions.height;
+        if (imageMIMETypes.indexOf(file.mimetype) > -1) {
+          const dimensions = await getImageSize(`${staticPath}/${fsSafeName}`);
+          fileData.width = dimensions.width;
+          fileData.height = dimensions.height;
 
-        if (Array.isArray(imageSizes) && file.mimetype !== 'image/svg+xml') {
-          fileData.sizes = await resizeAndSave(staticPath, collectionConfig, fsSafeName, fileData.mimeType);
+          if (Array.isArray(imageSizes) && file.mimetype !== 'image/svg+xml') {
+            fileData.sizes = await resizeAndSave(staticPath, collectionConfig, fsSafeName, fileData.mimeType);
+          }
         }
+      } catch (err) {
+        throw new FileUploadError(err);
       }
 
+
       data = {
         ...data,
         ...fileData,
diff --git a/src/errors/FileUploadError.js b/src/errors/FileUploadError.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ad9429f70f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/errors/FileUploadError.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+const httpStatus = require('http-status');
+const APIError = require('./APIError');
+
+class FileUploadError extends APIError {
+  constructor() {
+    super('There was a problem while uploading the file.', httpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = FileUploadError;
diff --git a/src/errors/index.js b/src/errors/index.js
index 9b74a13124..2fec4955df 100644
--- a/src/errors/index.js
+++ b/src/errors/index.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const DuplicateCollection = require('./DuplicateCollection');
 const DuplicateGlobal = require('./DuplicateGlobal');
 const ErrorDeletingFile = require('./ErrorDeletingFile');
 const errorHandler = require('../express/middleware/errorHandler');
+const FileUploadError = require('./FileUploadError');
 const Forbidden = require('./Forbidden');
 const InvalidFieldRelationship = require('./InvalidFieldRelationship');
 const MissingCollectionLabel = require('./MissingCollectionLabel');
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ module.exports = {
   DuplicateGlobal,
   ErrorDeletingFile,
   errorHandler,
+  FileUploadError,
   Forbidden,
   InvalidFieldRelationship,
   MissingCollectionLabel,
diff --git a/src/express/middleware/index.js b/src/express/middleware/index.js
index fb8b03208e..eb05d32c9b 100644
--- a/src/express/middleware/index.js
+++ b/src/express/middleware/index.js
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ const middleware = (payload) => {
     localizationMiddleware(payload.config.localization),
     fileUpload({
       parseNested: true,
+      ...payload.config.upload,
     }),
     (req, _, next) => {
       req.payload = payload;
diff --git a/src/utilities/sanitizeConfig.js b/src/utilities/sanitizeConfig.js
index e1a79bb1e4..dfbd11da25 100644
--- a/src/utilities/sanitizeConfig.js
+++ b/src/utilities/sanitizeConfig.js
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ const sanitizeConfig = (config) => {
 
   sanitizedConfig.admin = config.admin || {};
 
+  sanitizedConfig.upload = config.upload || {};
+
   if (!sanitizedConfig.admin.user) {
     sanitizedConfig.admin.user = 'users';
     sanitizedConfig.collections.push(defaultUser);