diff --git a/public/src/modules/pictureCropper.js b/public/src/modules/pictureCropper.js
index 12491819aa..f732d7a208 100644
--- a/public/src/modules/pictureCropper.js
+++ b/public/src/modules/pictureCropper.js
@@ -163,7 +163,10 @@ define('pictureCropper', ['translator', 'cropper', 'benchpress'], function (tran
 		var reader = new FileReader();
 		var imageUrl;
 		var imageType = file.type;
-
+		var fileSize = data.hasOwnProperty('fileSize') && data.fileSize !== undefined ? parseInt(data.fileSize, 10) : false;
+		if (file.size > fileSize * 1024) {
+			return app.alertError('[[error:file-too-big, ' + fileSize + ']]');
+		}
 		reader.addEventListener('load', function () {
 			imageUrl = reader.result;
 
diff --git a/src/image.js b/src/image.js
index afb4427590..d2cf7f4441 100644
--- a/src/image.js
+++ b/src/image.js
@@ -125,3 +125,7 @@ image.writeImageDataToTempFile = function (imageData, callback) {
 		callback(err, filepath);
 	});
 };
+
+image.sizeFromBase64 = function (imageData) {
+	return Buffer.from(imageData.slice(imageData.indexOf('base64') + 7), 'base64').length;
+};
diff --git a/src/user/picture.js b/src/user/picture.js
index 05ce284238..d39bce659d 100644
--- a/src/user/picture.js
+++ b/src/user/picture.js
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ module.exports = function (User) {
 
 		async.waterfall([
 			function (next) {
-				var size = data.file ? data.file.size : data.imageData.length;
+				var size = data.file ? data.file.size : image.sizeFromBase64(data.imageData);
 				meta.config.maximumCoverImageSize = meta.config.maximumCoverImageSize || 2048;
 				if (size > parseInt(meta.config.maximumCoverImageSize, 10) * 1024) {
 					return next(new Error('[[error:file-too-big, ' + meta.config.maximumCoverImageSize + ']]'));
@@ -89,10 +89,10 @@ module.exports = function (User) {
 			return callback(new Error('[[error:invalid-data]]'));
 		}
 
-		var size = data.file ? data.file.size : data.imageData.length;
+		var size = data.file ? data.file.size : image.sizeFromBase64(data.imageData);
 		var uploadSize = parseInt(meta.config.maximumProfileImageSize, 10) || 256;
 		if (size > uploadSize * 1024) {
-			return callback(new Error('[[error:file-too-big, ' + meta.config.maximumProfileImageSize + ']]'));
+			return callback(new Error('[[error:file-too-big, ' + uploadSize + ']]'));
 		}
 
 		var type = data.file ? data.file.type : image.mimeFromBase64(data.imageData);