diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 571886fc..7df8818b 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 
+**latest**
+- added NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE configuration to specify the maximum acceptable size of attachments.
+
 **6.8.2**
 - upgrade to gitlab-ce 6.8.2
 - renamed configuration option GITLAB_SHELL_SSH_PORT to GITLAB_SSH_PORT
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4e1ce163..4dfa984e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -579,6 +579,7 @@ Below is the complete list of available options that can be used to customize yo
 - **SSL_KEY_PATH**: Location of the ssl private key. Defaults to /home/git/data/certs/gitlab.key
 - **SSL_DHPARAM_PATH**: Location of the dhparam file. Defaults to /home/git/data/certs/dhparam.pem
 - **CA_CERTIFICATES_PATH**: List of SSL certificates to trust. Defaults to /home/git/data/certs/ca.crt.
+- **NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE**: Maximum acceptable upload size. Defaults to 20m.
 - **REDIS_HOST**: The hostname of the redis server. Defaults to localhost
 - **REDIS_PORT**: The connection port of the redis server. Defaults to 6379.
 - **UNICORN_WORKERS**: The number of unicorn workers to start. Defaults to 2.
diff --git a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab
index 26469245..a7f4c2bc 100644
--- a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab
+++ b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ server {
   
   # Increase this if you want to upload large attachments
   # Or if you want to accept large git objects over http
-  client_max_body_size 20m;
+  client_max_body_size {{NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}};
 
   # individual nginx logs for this gitlab vhost
   access_log  /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log;
diff --git a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.permissive b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.permissive
index 436c7a7d..3157c8e4 100644
--- a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.permissive
+++ b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.permissive
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ server {
   
   # Increase this if you want to upload large attachments
   # Or if you want to accept large git objects over http
-  client_max_body_size 20m;
+  client_max_body_size {{NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}};
 
   # individual nginx logs for this gitlab vhost
   access_log  /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log;
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ server {
 
   # Increase this if you want to upload large attachments
   # Or if you want to accept large git objects over http
-  client_max_body_size 20m;
+  client_max_body_size {{NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}};
 
   # individual nginx logs for this gitlab vhost
   access_log  /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log;
diff --git a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.strict b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.strict
index 9e6155f4..b45727fe 100644
--- a/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.strict
+++ b/assets/config/nginx/gitlab.https.strict
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ server {
 
   # Increase this if you want to upload large attachments
   # Or if you want to accept large git objects over http
-  client_max_body_size 20m;
+  client_max_body_size {{NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}};
 
   # individual nginx logs for this gitlab vhost
   access_log  /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log;
diff --git a/assets/init b/assets/init
index 545564a5..8885c864 100755
--- a/assets/init
+++ b/assets/init
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ CA_CERTIFICATES_PATH=${CA_CERTIFICATES_PATH:-/home/git/data/certs/ca.crt}
 GITLAB_BACKUPS=${GITLAB_BACKUPS:-disable}
 GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY=${GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY:-}
 
+NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE=${NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE:-20m}
+
 REDIS_HOST=${REDIS_HOST:-}
 REDIS_PORT=${REDIS_PORT:-}
 
@@ -194,6 +196,7 @@ sed 's/{{GITLAB_PORT}}/'"${GITLAB_PORT}"'/' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
 sed 's,{{SSL_CERTIFICATE_PATH}},'"${SSL_CERTIFICATE_PATH}"',' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
 sed 's,{{SSL_KEY_PATH}},'"${SSL_KEY_PATH}"',' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
 sed 's,{{SSL_DHPARAM_PATH}},'"${SSL_DHPARAM_PATH}"',' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
+sed 's/{{NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}}/'"${NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE}"'/g' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
 supervisorctl start nginx
 
 echo "Updating CA certificates..."