diff --git a/ejabberd.service.template b/ejabberd.service.template
index 80f023889..560a93265 100644
--- a/ejabberd.service.template
+++ b/ejabberd.service.template
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ After=network.target
 Type=forking
 User=ejabberd
 Group=ejabberd
-LimitNOFILE=16000
+LimitNOFILE=65536
 Restart=on-failure
 RestartSec=5
 ExecStart=@ctlscriptpath@/ejabberdctl start