Sanity Studio image upload hanging on large JPG files

I feel your pain! Image upload hanging issues in Sanity Studio can be really frustrating. Based on a similar issue from the Sanity community, the most likely culprit is actually in your image schema configuration.

The Main Issue: Invalid Metadata Options

If you have an image field with a metadata array in your schema, check if you're including dimensions, hasAlpha, or isOpaque. These options are not valid for the metadata array and will cause uploads to fail with a 400 error.

Here's what an incorrect schema looks like:

{
  name: 'myImage',
  type: 'image',
  options: {
    metadata: [
      'dimensions',    // ❌ Invalid
      'hasAlpha',      // ❌ Invalid  
      'isOpaque',      // ❌ Invalid
      'blurhash',      // ✅ Valid
      'lqip',          // ✅ Valid
      'palette',       // ✅ Valid
      'exif',          // ✅ Valid
    ],
  },
}

The Fix

Remove dimensions, hasAlpha, and isOpaque from your metadata array. The valid metadata options are:

• blurhash
• lqip
• palette
• exif
• location

After updating your schema, restart your Studio dev server.

Other Troubleshooting Steps

If the schema fix doesn't solve it, try these:

1. Check browser console - Open DevTools (F12) and look for errors in the Console and Network tabs during upload. A 400 error on the asset upload endpoint is a dead giveaway for the metadata issue.

2. Try a different browser - Browser extensions (especially ad blockers or privacy tools) can interfere with uploads to Sanity's Asset CDN.

3. Network issues - Corporate firewalls, VPNs, or restrictive network policies can block uploads to cdn.sanity.io.

4. Clear browser cache - Sometimes cached authentication tokens cause problems.

If you need to clean up any partially uploaded assets that are stuck, you can use the Sanity CLI to delete assets with commands like sanity documents delete targeting sanity.imageAsset documents.

The metadata configuration issue was fixed in Sanity Studio v2.28.0, where invalid metadata options are now silently removed instead of causing upload failures. Make sure you're on the latest version!