Can't upload large JPG images in the file manager expression engine 5.3.2

When I attempt to upload a a large jpg image to the file manager in expression engine, I receive the following message

“Cannot Upload File. Thumbnail could not be created for the image. Please make sure the thumbnail directory is writable.”

However, this does not occur with png images or very small jpg images. All files and folder have had file permissions set to 777 and 655 respectively, so I am pretty sure it isn’t a file permission error especially since some image files have been able to write to the upload/_thumbs folder. It seems to be caused by expression engine’s inability to create a thumbnail for large jpg images, so what does expression engine use to process jpg images into thumbnails? What could be causing this issue?

Thanks to anyone who may be able to help with this issue.

tdefilippis