diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index 561943743..3b137bce0 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ OCR_ROTATE_PAGES_THRESHOLD = float(
 )
 
 OCR_MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS = os.environ.get(
-    'PAPERLESS_OCR_MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS', Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS
+    'PAPERLESS_OCR_MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS', 256000000
 )
 
 OCR_USER_ARGS = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS", "{}")