If you try to visit a file larger than @code{large-file-warning-threshold} (the default is 10000000, which is about 10 megabytes), Emacs asks you for confirmation first.  You can answer @kbd{y} to proceed with visiting the <del>file.</del> <ins>file or @kbd{l} to visit the file literally (see below).  Visiting large files literally speeds up navigation and editing of such files, because various potentially-expensive features are turned off.</ins>  Note, however, that Emacs cannot visit files that are larger than the maximum Emacs buffer size, which is limited by the amount of memory Emacs can allocate and by the integers that Emacs can represent (@pxref{Buffers}).  If you try, Emacs displays an error message saying that the maximum buffer size has been exceeded.