diff --git a/Dockerfile-alpine.template b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
index f4e97fe0..0a9484d4 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-alpine.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
@@ -73,7 +73,9 @@ RUN set -ex; \
     apk del .build-deps
 
 # set recommended PHP.ini settings
-# see https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/12/admin_manual/configuration_server/server_tuning.html#enable-php-opcache
+# see https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/configuration_server/server_tuning.html#enable-php-opcache
+ENV PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT 512M
+ENV PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT 512M
 RUN { \
         echo 'opcache.enable=1'; \
         echo 'opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8'; \
@@ -85,7 +87,11 @@ RUN { \
     \
     echo 'apc.enable_cli=1' >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-apcu.ini; \
     \
-    echo 'memory_limit=512M' > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/memory-limit.ini; \
+    { \
+        echo 'memory_limit=${PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT}'; \
+        echo 'upload_max_filesize=${PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT}'; \
+        echo 'post_max_size=${PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT}'; \
+    } > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/nextcloud.ini; \
     \
     mkdir /var/www/data; \
     chown -R www-data:root /var/www; \
diff --git a/Dockerfile-debian.template b/Dockerfile-debian.template
index b3326df0..a6c4e215 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-debian.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-debian.template
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ RUN set -ex; \
 
 # install the PHP extensions we need
 # see https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/installation/source_installation.html
+ENV PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT 512M
+ENV PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT 512M
 RUN set -ex; \
     \
     savedAptMark="$(apt-mark showmanual)"; \
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@ RUN set -ex; \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # set recommended PHP.ini settings
-# see https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/12/admin_manual/configuration_server/server_tuning.html#enable-php-opcache
+# see https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/configuration_server/server_tuning.html#enable-php-opcache
 RUN { \
         echo 'opcache.enable=1'; \
         echo 'opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8'; \
@@ -98,7 +100,11 @@ RUN { \
     \
     echo 'apc.enable_cli=1' >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-apcu.ini; \
     \
-    echo 'memory_limit=512M' > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/memory-limit.ini; \
+    { \
+        echo 'memory_limit=${PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT}'; \
+        echo 'upload_max_filesize=${PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT}'; \
+        echo 'post_max_size=${PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT}'; \
+    } > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/nextcloud.ini; \
     \
     mkdir /var/www/data; \
     chown -R www-data:root /var/www; \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 76d91af4..a346e23f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ To use an external OpenStack Swift object store as primary storage, set the foll
 
 Check the [Nextcloud documentation](https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/latest/admin_manual/configuration_files/primary_storage.html#openstack-swift) for more information.
 
+To customize other PHP limits you can simply change the following variables:
+- `PHP_INI_MEMORY_LIMIT` (default `512M`) This sets the maximum amount of memory in bytes that a script is allowed to allocate. This is meant to help prevent poorly written scripts from eating up all available memory but it can prevent normal operation if set too tight.
+- `PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT` (default `512M`) This sets the upload limit (`post_max_size` and `upload_max_filesize`) for big files. Note that you may have to change other limits depending on your client, webserver or operating system. Check the [Nextcloud documentation](https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/latest/admin_manual/configuration_files/big_file_upload_configuration.html) for more information.
+
 
 ## Using the apache image behind a reverse proxy and auto configure server host and protocol