Issue: Unable to upload .txt files – “An unknown error occurred” (web and app)

ChatGPT Bugs
1

I have been unable to upload .txt files to ChatGPT since May 31, 2025.

  • The error is always: “An unknown error occurred” .
  • The issue happens in both the web version (Chrome, Firefox, clean Linux install) and the official Windows desktop app.
  • Other file types (e.g., .csv, .py) upload without issues.
  • I’ve tested different networks, computers, browsers, and even provided HAR files and screenshots to support – nothing resolves the problem.
  • The problem is consistent and only affects .txt files.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or has anyone found a workaround?
It seems like a backend issue on OpenAI’s side.

2 Likes
2

I am receiving the same issue. Can’t even do any narrative writing with these errors persisting even with smaller document sizes under 300 pages or even less. even going through and editing text to be more subtle doesn’t work. it’s still a files upload issue possibly on their backend and still undergoing observation. idk they never really say anything and they should.

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these are battle log files from the game swtor.
i tried renaming the file in notepad (save as, then dropdown and “all”) to .csv file, and AI can now get the text/data within the file.
hope this works for others too!

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A ChatGPT test 5 hours after the most recent posting here - success:

A user shares a document and asks about how retrieval works in OpenAI's Assistants, and the Assistant provides a technical explanation involving embeddings-based document search. (Captioned by AI)
A user shares a document and asks about how retrieval works in OpenAI's Assistants, and the Assistant provides a technical explanation involving embeddings-based document search. (Captioned by AI)544×272 7.7 KB

(the file turned out to be the blog announcing GPTs, likely used as a test of retrieval then, like I just did now)

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what i find strange here is that it worked fine, and then it stoped working.
the workarround means i need to rename my files for AI to analyze.
it works, but is not what i expect being a plus client..
why did this happend, and why are others also experiencing this?
will there be a fix for this soon so we dont need a workarround?

1 Like
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By renaming to csv, you made it so the file cannot be used in the file search mechanism, but instead, can only be placed in code interpreter. Then the AI has to write a python script that will return maximum 16k characters from the notebook by reading the file.

Copy-paste from a text file lets you control the input without waste.

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Just wanted to chip in that I’ve also been suffering from this exact same issue for about two weeks now.

3 Likes
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it worked then it suddenly stopped.

my workarround was this: open in text pad or any editable. then go to files and “save as” and i put a .csv at the end of the file. when i upload it works fine.
Pasting limited parts into AI dont work for me as its too much text.
when i upload for analyzing, i tell AI to read it as a text file not a sheet, and this works for me.

would be nice to not having to manipulate files just to upload them, and since it worked some time back, this should be a easy fix!

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My workaround was to just copy-paste all the text into Word and then export it as a .pdf file. That worked just fine and I can directly ask questions about the files in my project.

10

same problem here. OpenAI fix this for the love of God…there is no defense for this level of regression.

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FWIW, I’m still unable to upload any txt files to custom GPTs or Projects, even small ones. The smallest one I’ve just tried was 14k, which is a small fraction of the theoretical limit.

1 Like