diff --git a/app/ui/features/media/index.js b/app/ui/features/media/index.js
index 523b4117..1e65d987 100644
--- a/app/ui/features/media/index.js
+++ b/app/ui/features/media/index.js
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ export default {
     const note = c.text.sm({ text: "" });
     const drop = c.dropzone.default({ label: "Drop or choose files", hint: "images, clips, audio",
       onFiles: async (files) => {
-        try { const r = await api.uploadMedia(files, (i, n, name) => note.setText(`Uploading ${i + 1}/${n}: ${name}`)); (r.problems || []).forEach(tell); await refresh(); } catch (err) { tell(err.message); }
+        try { const r = await api.uploadMedia(files, (i, n, name, f) => note.setText(`Uploading ${i + 1}/${n}: ${name}${f ? ` ${f >= 1 ? "(saving...)" : `${Math.round(f * 100)}%`}` : ""}`)); (r.problems || []).forEach(tell); await refresh(); } catch (err) { tell(err.message); }
         note.setText("");
       } });
     const seg = (label, options, key) => c.segmented.sm({ label, options, value: show[key], onChange: (v) => { show[key] = v; draw(true); } });
diff --git a/app/ui/shell/api.js b/app/ui/shell/api.js
index 6a7adff4..13852131 100644
--- a/app/ui/shell/api.js
+++ b/app/ui/shell/api.js
@@ -19,6 +19,20 @@ export async function call(method, path, body) {
   return payload;
 }
 
+/** POST a form. fetch cannot report bytes sent, so use XHR where it exists (browsers) and fetch elsewhere.
+ *  Resolves a fetch-like {ok, status, json()}. */
+function post(url, form, onFraction) {
+  if (typeof XMLHttpRequest === "undefined") return fetch(url, { method: "POST", body: form });
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
+    xhr.open("POST", url);
+    xhr.upload.onprogress = (e) => { if (e.lengthComputable) onFraction(e.loaded / e.total); };
+    xhr.onerror = () => reject(new Error("the upload was interrupted"));
+    xhr.onload = () => resolve({ ok: xhr.status >= 200 && xhr.status < 300, status: xhr.status, statusText: xhr.statusText, json: async () => JSON.parse(xhr.responseText) });
+    xhr.send(form);
+  });
+}
+
 export const api = {
   pipeline: () => call("GET", "/api/pipeline"),
   editPipeline: (body) => call("POST", "/api/pipeline", body),
@@ -167,15 +181,16 @@ export const api = {
   deleteMedia: (id) => call("DELETE", `/api/media/${encodeURIComponent(id)}`),
   /** Upload files as media, one request each so one refusal (too big, wrong type) does not sink the rest.
    *  Resolves {media, problems}. Not JSON, so not through call(). */
-  async uploadMedia(files, onProgress) {       // onProgress(done, total, name) before each file
+  async uploadMedia(files, onProgress) {       // onProgress(done, total, name, fraction) before each file, then again as bytes go out
     const out = { media: [], problems: [] };
     let done = 0;
     for (const file of files) {
-      if (onProgress) onProgress(done++, files.length, file.name);
+      const at = done++;
+      if (onProgress) onProgress(at, files.length, file.name, 0);
       const form = new FormData();
       form.append("file", file, file.name);
       try {
-        const res = await fetch(`${BASE}/api/media`, { method: "POST", body: form });
+        const res = await post(`${BASE}/api/media`, form, (f) => onProgress && onProgress(at, files.length, file.name, f));
         const payload = await res.json().catch(() => null);
         if (!res.ok) throw Object.assign(new Error(why(res, payload)), { status: res.status });      // status: a refusal (4xx) is not an outage
         out.media.push(...(payload.media || [])); out.problems.push(...(payload.problems || []));
diff --git a/core/routes.py b/core/routes.py
index 935c4bc9..5fdc6c93 100644
--- a/core/routes.py
+++ b/core/routes.py
@@ -971,9 +971,20 @@ def register(routes, prefix=None):
                 break
             if not part.filename:
                 continue  # a form field that is not a file
-            data = await part.read(decode=False)
+            # 1MB reads (the default is 8KB: thousands of loop turns for a clip) and a
+            # stop at the limit, so a too-big file is refused without buffering all of it
+            buf = bytearray()
+            while True:
+                chunk = await part.read_chunk(1024 * 1024)
+                if not chunk:
+                    break
+                buf += chunk
+                if len(buf) > media.MAX_BYTES:
+                    break
+            data = bytes(buf)
             try:
-                saved.append(media.save_upload(part.filename, data))
+                # to_thread: writing a big clip must not stall the one event loop ComfyUI has
+                saved.append(await asyncio.to_thread(media.save_upload, part.filename, data))
             except ValueError as exc:
                 problems.append(f"{part.filename}: {exc}")
         if not saved and problems: