4K to 1080p Converter
Phones, action cameras and drones record 4K by default, but many TVs, projectors, laptops and upload forms are happiest with Full HD. This converter scales 2160p footage to 1080p and writes an H.264 MP4 that plays almost anywhere.
Video Converter
or drop MP4, MOV, MKV … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Lower is better quality and a bigger file. 18 looks identical to the source, 23 is the default, 28 and above shows visible softening.
Frames per second. Keep the source rate unless a platform asks for a specific one; 15–20 fps is plenty for GIFs.
Only used for PowerPoint files and single still images: how long each slide or picture stays on screen.
Auto uses AAC for MP4/MOV and Opus for WebM. Copy keeps the original sound untouched when the new format supports it.
192 kbps is transparent for music; 128 kbps is enough for speech.
Width of the animation in pixels; height follows the aspect ratio. 480 px suits chats, 720 px or more gives a high-quality GIF but a much larger file.
GIF holds at most 256 colors. Fewer colors make a smaller file but cause banding on gradients and skin tones.
Mixes palette colors in a fine pattern to hide banding. Sierra gives the smoothest result; none gives the smallest file.
Whether the animation repeats endlessly or plays one time and stops.
Optional. Seconds (e.g. 75) or minutes:seconds (1:15). Leave empty to start at the beginning.
Optional. Same format as the start time. Leave empty to keep everything up to the end.
The converted file will be at or just under this size.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the 4K clip
Add MP4, MOV or MKV files up to 95 MB each, 20 per batch. At 4K that usually means clips under a minute.
- 2
Keep 1080 as the resolution
Resolution is set to 1080p and Video codec to H.264. Change Frame rate to 30 fps if the source was 60 fps and smooth motion is not needed.
- 3
Convert and download
Press Convert to MP4 and save the Full HD copy. Your 4K original stays untouched on your device.
Why downscale 4K to 1080p
4K footage asks a lot of every device it touches. A laptop without a recent hardware decoder stutters on 2160p at 60 fps, a Full HD TV or office projector shows only a quarter of the detail anyway, and editing apps on modest machines crawl through 4K timelines. Most of the time the extra pixels cost something and deliver nothing.
Downscaling fixes all of that at once and makes the file far smaller. If the clip came from an iPhone in HEVC, re-encoding to H.264 also clears the playback problems Windows and older Android phones have with that codec; the HEVC to H.264 page covers that case on its own.
1/4of the pixels in each frame after 4K becomes 1080p
4K vs 1440p vs 1080p vs 720p: pixels per frame
- 2160p (4K UHD), 3840 × 21608.3 MP
- 1440p, 2560 × 14403.7 MP
- 1080p (Full HD), 1920 × 10802.1 MP
- 720p (HD), 1280 × 7200.9 MP
ANY V
Any video
This accepts common video formats, including MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI and others. The container and codecs are detected automatically from the file.
MP4
MPEG-4 video
MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14) is a multimedia container standardised by ISO/MPEG and based on Apple's QuickTime format. It usually holds H.264 or HEVC video with AAC audio, and can also carry subtitles, chapters and metadata. It is the most compatible video format in the world, playing on phones, browsers, TVs, game consoles and social platforms. The video inside is almost always lossy, so repeated re-encoding gradually reduces quality.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 2001 · Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
4K goes down to 1080p when the footage outgrows the screen, the computer or the upload form: a quarter of the pixels plays smoothly on Full HD TVs and older laptops and leaves a far lighter file.
Getting the 4K clip off your phone or camera
iPhone
- 01Check Settings → Camera → Record Video to see the recording resolution.
- 02Trim the clip in Photos so it stays under 95 MB.
- 03Open this page in Safari and pick the video from your library.
Android
- 01The camera app's video size setting shows UHD or 4K when it is active.
- 02Use the gallery's trim tool for long takes.
- 03Open this page in Chrome and choose the clip from Gallery or Files.
GoPro or drone
- 01Copy the MP4 from the microSD card's DCIM folder to a computer.
- 02Long recordings are split into several files; pick the ones you need.
- 03Upload them here; each file is converted separately.
The 4K camera files themselves are worth keeping. Phones and action cameras give 4K a high bitrate, and the original is what you will want for a future edit or a 4K TV. Treat the 1080p MP4 as the copy for watching, sending and posting. When the result still has to squeeze under a fixed cap, such as an e-mail or chat limit, follow up with compress video to 100 MB or set Limit file size before converting.
4K to 1080p converter questions
Does converting 4K to 1080p lose quality?
It removes resolution by design, three quarters of the pixels, but on a Full HD screen you will not see a difference, because that screen could never show the extra detail. Downscaled 4K often looks crisper than footage recorded at 1080p, since each output pixel is averaged from four captured ones.
How much 4K video can I upload under 95 MB?
iOS camera settings list 4K at 30 fps as about 170 MB per minute in High Efficiency (HEVC) mode, so roughly 35 seconds fit. At 60 fps, or in Most Compatible mode, it is less. Trim on the phone first, or record the clip in 1080p if it is only for sharing.
What happens to an HDR or Dolby Vision clip?
Recent iPhones record HDR video in Dolby Vision. The H.264 MP4 written here is a standard 8-bit file without HDR metadata, so highlights and colors can look flatter than on the phone. For clips meant for sharing, turning off HDR Video in the iPhone camera settings avoids the mismatch.
What resolution does DCI 4K footage get?
Cinema-style 4K is 4096 × 2160, slightly wider than UHD. Scaling it to a 1080-pixel height keeps the shape, so the result is 2048 × 1080 rather than 1920 × 1080. Players and TVs show it with thin bars, just as they show the original.
Can I go below 1080p in the same step?
Yes. Pick 720p, 480p or lower under Resolution before converting. For clips that are already Full HD and need to shrink for messaging, the 1080p to 720p converter starts with those settings.
- 1080p to 720p ConverterDownscale 1080p video to 720p MP4 to cut file size for email, slow uploads and older devices. Width follows the aspect ratio; never upscales. No account.
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