diff --git a/files/admin.php b/files/admin.php
index ea846202ab..7e410652cf 100644
--- a/files/admin.php
+++ b/files/admin.php
@@ -28,13 +28,20 @@ require_once('../lib/base.php');
 OC_Util::checkAdminUser();
 
 $htaccessWorking=(getenv('htaccessWorking')=='true');
-if(isset($_POST['maxUploadSize'])){
-	$maxUploadFilesize=$_POST['maxUploadSize'];
-	OC_Files::setUploadLimit(OC_Helper::computerFileSize($maxUploadFilesize));
+if($_POST) {
+	if(isset($_POST['maxUploadSize'])){
+		$maxUploadFilesize=$_POST['maxUploadSize'];
+		OC_Files::setUploadLimit(OC_Helper::computerFileSize($maxUploadFilesize));
+	}
+	if(isset($_POST['maxZipInputSize'])) {
+		$maxZipInputSize=$_POST['maxZipInputSize'];
+		OC_Preferences::setValue('', 'files', 'maxZipInputSize', OC_Helper::computerFileSize($maxZipInputSize));
+	}
 }else{
 	$upload_max_filesize = OC_Helper::computerFileSize(ini_get('upload_max_filesize'));
 	$post_max_size = OC_Helper::computerFileSize(ini_get('post_max_size'));
 	$maxUploadFilesize = min($upload_max_filesize, $post_max_size);
+	$maxZipInputSize = OC_Helper::humanfilesize(OC_Preferences::getValue('', 'files', 'maxZipInputSize', OC_Helper::computerFileSize('800 MB')));
 }
 
 OC_App::setActiveNavigationEntry( "files_administration" );
@@ -42,6 +49,5 @@ OC_App::setActiveNavigationEntry( "files_administration" );
 $tmpl = new OC_Template( 'files', 'admin' );
 $tmpl->assign( 'htaccessWorking', $htaccessWorking );
 $tmpl->assign( 'uploadMaxFilesize', $maxUploadFilesize);
-return $tmpl->fetchPage();
-
-?>
+$tmpl->assign( 'maxZipInputSize', $maxZipInputSize);
+return $tmpl->fetchPage();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/files/templates/admin.php b/files/templates/admin.php
index eb65544704..8c3ba56ad5 100644
--- a/files/templates/admin.php
+++ b/files/templates/admin.php
@@ -3,11 +3,10 @@
 <form name="filesForm" action='#' method='post'>
 	<fieldset class="personalblock">
 		<legend><strong><?php echo $l->t('File handling');?></strong></legend>
-	<?php if($_['htaccessWorking']):?>
-		<label for="maxUploadSize"><?php echo $l->t( 'Maximum upload size' ); ?> </label><input name='maxUploadSize' id="maxUploadSize" value='<?php echo $_['uploadMaxFilesize'] ?>'/><br/>
-		<input type='submit' value='Save'/>
-	<?php else:?>
-		No settings currently available.
-	<?php endif;?>
+		<?php if($_['htaccessWorking']):?>
+			<label for="maxUploadSize"><?php echo $l->t( 'Maximum upload size' ); ?> </label><input name='maxUploadSize' id="maxUploadSize" value='<?php echo $_['uploadMaxFilesize'] ?>'/><br/>
+		<?php endif;?>
+		<label for="maxZipInputSize"><?php echo $l->t( 'Maximum input size for zip files (affects folder- and multi-file download)' ); ?> </label><input name="maxZipInputSize" id="maxZipInputSize" value='<?php echo $_['maxZipInputSize'] ?>'/><br/>
+		<input type="submit" value="Save"/>
 	</fieldset>
 </form>
diff --git a/lib/files.php b/lib/files.php
index 1f8331afb2..50223df1d3 100644
--- a/lib/files.php
+++ b/lib/files.php
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ class OC_Files {
 		}
 
 		if(is_array($files)){
+			self::checkZipInputSize($dir,$files);
+			$executionTime = intval(ini_get('max_execution_time'));
+			set_time_limit(0);
 			$zip = new ZipArchive();
 			$filename = get_temp_dir()."/ownCloud.zip";
 			if ($zip->open($filename, ZIPARCHIVE::CREATE)!==TRUE) {
@@ -75,7 +78,11 @@ class OC_Files {
 				}
 			}
 			$zip->close();
+			set_time_limit($executionTime);
 		}elseif(OC_Filesystem::is_dir($dir.'/'.$files)){
+			self::checkZipInputSize($dir,$files);
+			$executionTime = intval(ini_get('max_execution_time'));
+			set_time_limit(0);
 			$zip = new ZipArchive();
 			$filename = get_temp_dir()."/ownCloud.zip";
 			if ($zip->open($filename, ZIPARCHIVE::CREATE)!==TRUE) {
@@ -84,6 +91,7 @@ class OC_Files {
 			$file=$dir.'/'.$files;
 			self::zipAddDir($file,$zip);
 			$zip->close();
+			set_time_limit($executionTime);
 		}else{
 			$zip=false;
 			$filename=$dir.'/'.$files;
@@ -209,6 +217,40 @@ class OC_Files {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	* checks if the selected files are within the size constraint. If not, outputs an error page.
+	*
+	* @param dir   $dir
+	* @param files $files
+	*/
+	static function checkZipInputSize($dir, $files) {
+		$zipLimit = OC_Preferences::getValue('', 'files', 'maxZipInputSize', OC_Helper::computerFileSize('800 MB'));
+		if($zipLimit > 0) {
+			$totalsize = 0;
+			if(is_array($files)){
+				foreach($files as $file){
+					$totalsize += OC_Filesystem::filesize($dir.'/'.$file);
+				}
+			}else{
+				$totalsize += OC_Filesystem::filesize($dir.'/'.$files);
+			}
+			if($totalsize > $zipLimit) {
+				$l = new OC_L10N('files');
+				header("HTTP/1.0 409 Conflict");
+				$tmpl = new OC_Template( '', 'error', 'user' );
+				$errors = array(
+					array(
+						'error' => $l->t('Selected files too large to generate zip file.'),
+						'hint' => 'Download the files in smaller chunks, seperately or kindly ask your administrator.<br/><a href="javascript:history.back()">' . $l->t('Back to Files') . '</a>',
+					)
+				);
+				$tmpl->assign('errors', $errors);
+				$tmpl->printPage();
+				exit;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* try to detect the mime type of a file
 	*
@@ -256,7 +298,7 @@ class OC_Files {
 			return false;
 		}
 	}
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * set the maximum upload size limit for apache hosts using .htaccess
 	 * @param int size filesisze in bytes