diff --git a/docs/development.adoc b/docs/development.adoc
index 7635a61..5f05856 100644
--- a/docs/development.adoc
+++ b/docs/development.adoc
@@ -71,10 +71,10 @@ and similar, varying by region):
 
 [source,shell]
 ----
-pmtiles extract https://download.mapterhorn.com/planet.pmtiles planet-extract.pmtiles --bbox=west,south,east,north --maxzoom=15 --overfetch=0
+pmtiles extract https://download.mapterhorn.com/planet.pmtiles planet-extract.pmtiles --bbox=west,south,east,north --maxzoom=13 --overfetch=0
 # only if a regional chunk covers the bbox too (see download_urls.json) —
 # most bboxes hit exactly one, a bbox straddling a chunk boundary hits two:
-pmtiles extract https://download.mapterhorn.com/<chunk>.pmtiles chunk-extract.pmtiles --bbox=west,south,east,north --maxzoom=15 --overfetch=0
+pmtiles extract https://download.mapterhorn.com/<chunk>.pmtiles chunk-extract.pmtiles --bbox=west,south,east,north --maxzoom=13 --overfetch=0
 pmtiles merge planet-extract.pmtiles chunk-extract.pmtiles data/terrain.pmtiles
 ----
 
@@ -88,6 +88,14 @@ fragile mega-request for many small ones instead (spread over
 connection only loses one small request's worth of progress, not the
 whole extract.
 
+`--maxzoom=13`: raster DEM tiles don't compress away like vector ones do
+(every tile is a real image, even over flat/empty terrain), so each extra
+zoom level roughly quadruples storage — the app's own build
+(`PmtilesBuilder::TERRAIN_MAX_ZOOM`) caps at 13, each regional chunk's
+own native minzoom, rather than the online hillshade layer's z15. A
+12-country selection at z15 was headed well past 181GB; z13 is still
+plenty for the hillshade toggle and the planned slope readout.
+
 Tiles are 512px WebP, not the 256px PNG this app's *online* Terrarium
 source uses — `public/js/dem.js`'s own point-elevation lookups
 (`shadow.js`'s terrain-shadow overlay) read the actual decoded tile
diff --git a/lib/maptool/pmtiles_builder.rb b/lib/maptool/pmtiles_builder.rb
index 5fec547..f7966e7 100644
--- a/lib/maptool/pmtiles_builder.rb
+++ b/lib/maptool/pmtiles_builder.rb
@@ -88,11 +88,15 @@ module Maptool
     # archive" story via go-pmtiles, unrelated to the basemap swap.
     MAPTERHORN_MANIFEST_URL = "https://download.mapterhorn.com/download_urls.json"
     MAPTERHORN_PLANET_NAME = "planet.pmtiles"
-    # Matches the online hillshade layer's own cap (public/js/overlays.js's
-    # ONLINE_TERRAIN_TILES source, maxzoom: 15) — applied uniformly even
-    # though some Mapterhorn chunks natively offer more, so the offline
-    # experience doesn't vary in detail from one region to the next.
-    TERRAIN_MAX_ZOOM = 15
+    # Deliberately *below* the online hillshade layer's own cap
+    # (public/js/overlays.js's ONLINE_TERRAIN_TILES source, maxzoom: 15) —
+    # raster DEM tiles don't compress away like vector ones do, so every
+    # extra zoom level roughly quadruples storage. z13 is each regional
+    # chunk's own native minzoom (see the comment above), so this is the
+    # cheapest useful cut: one raster level per chunk, not a 15-13=2-level
+    # pyramid on top of it. Bumped into a 181GB terrain.pmtiles for a
+    # 5-country selection before this was lowered — see docs/development.adoc.
+    TERRAIN_MAX_ZOOM = 13
 
     OFFLINE_STATUS = { state: "idle" }
     TERRAIN_STATUS = { state: "idle" }