<b>Two limits, not one</b>

<b>Two limits, not one</b>

Everyone quotes 50,000 URLs. Half forget the second ceiling that fails sitemaps silently.

— ✅ Max 50,000 URLs per sitemap file.
— ✅ Max 50 MB uncompressed per file.
— ✅ Either limit hit first → split, whichever comes first.

The trap: long URLs with image/video extensions blow the 50 MB cap at ~12,000 entries, well under 50k.

Checklist:
Step 1 — Measure uncompressed byte size, not gzip size (the 50 MB applies to uncompressed).
Step 2 — If file &gt; 45 MB, split now — don't wait for the hard fail.
Step 3 — Re-run after every schema addition (image/video tags inflate bytes fast).

Definition of done: every file is under 50,000 URLs AND under 50 MB uncompressed, with a 10% safety margin on both.