Compress Video
Make a video file smaller without guessing: type the size it has to fit, such as 10 MB for Discord or 25 MB for Gmail, and the encoder works out the bitrate for you. If no limit applies, compress by quality level or by resolution instead.
Compress Video
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.
Never output more than this height. Capping a 4K phone video at 1080p saves a lot of space before any other compression.
Halving 60 fps to 30 fps saves space with little visible change except in fast motion.
H.264 plays everywhere. H.265 and AV1 reach the same quality at a smaller size but some older phones, TVs and apps cannot play them.
96 kbps is fine for speech, 128 kbps for music. The audio share matters most for small targets.
MP4 is the safest choice for messengers and email. WebM is usually smaller for websites.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the video
Add up to 20 files of up to 95 MB each. MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, 3GP, MTS and other common camera and phone formats are accepted.
- 2
Choose how to compress
In Compress by, keep Target size and type a number such as 10 MB, or switch to Quality level or Resolution. Codec, frame rate and audio settings are under Advanced settings.
- 3
Compress and download
Press Compress to MP4 (the label follows the Output format), check the new size next to each file, and download them one by one or as a ZIP. Everything is deleted from the server 30 minutes after processing.
Compress video for Discord, email and chat apps
| Organisation | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Discord (free account) | 10 MB per file; Nitro plans allow larger uploads | Discord support |
| Gmail | 25 MB of attachments per email; larger files are sent as Google Drive links | Gmail help |
| Outlook.com | 20 MB of attachments per message; bigger files go through OneDrive | Microsoft support |
| 16 MB has long been the practical cap for a video sent as media; larger files go as documents | WhatsApp help |
File size is simply bitrate multiplied by duration. A 10 MB limit is 80 megabits; spread over a 60-second clip, that is about 1.33 Mbps for everything. Take away 128 kbps for the sound and roughly 1.2 Mbps is left for the picture, which is comfortable for 720p and tight for 1080p. Halve the length and you double the bitrate, which is why trimming dead air is the cheapest quality upgrade.
This is also why a target-size compressor beats a fixed quality slider when there is a hard limit. The tool reads the duration, subtracts the audio share, and encodes the video at exactly the rate that fits. Two-pass mode first measures where the motion is, then spends more bits on busy scenes and fewer on static ones. Our guide to compressing video for Discord and email walks through real examples, and compress video to 10 MB opens the tool with that target already filled in.
Three ways to compress: target size, quality or resolution
Target size
Type a number in KB or MB and the bitrate is calculated for you.
- Hits a hard limit reliably
- Two-pass encoding on by default
- Quality depends on clip length
Quality level
Pick High, Balanced, Small or Smallest and let the size follow.
- Balanced often halves the file with no visible change
- Smallest can cut 80% or more
- Final size is not fixed
Resolution
Scale the picture down to 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p or 240p.
- 720p is about half the size of 1080p
- Width follows the aspect ratio
- Good first step for 4K clips
Video and audio settings that shrink the file further
- Maximum resolution
- Caps the height at 1080p, 720p, 480p or 360p in Target size and Quality modes, so a 4K phone clip never keeps more pixels than the screen needs.
- Maximum frame rate
- Drops 60 fps footage to 30, 24 or 15 fps. Halving the frame rate saves space with little visible change outside fast action.
- Video codec
- H.264 by default for the widest playback; H.265, VP9 or AV1 for a smaller file when the viewer's device is recent.
- Two-pass encoding
- Analyzes the clip before encoding so the target size is met precisely. On by default in Target size mode.
- Audio bitrate and Remove audio
- 48 to 160 kbps, default 128 kbps. 96 kbps is enough for speech; removing the sound frees the whole audio share for the picture.
- Output format and Strip metadata
- Save as MP4, WebM, MOV or the source format, and remove GPS location, device model and creation date.
How to compress a video without ruining it
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Trim intros, pauses and endings before compressing | Squeeze a long video into a few MB and expect sharp text |
| Set Maximum resolution to 720p for targets under about 15 MB | Pick AV1 for a file your relative will open on an old laptop |
| Keep the audio at 96 kbps or more when people are talking | Run the same file through compression several times |
| Compress the original recording, not a copy that was already compressed | Set the target to exactly the platform limit; leave a small margin |
30 seconds of iPhone 4K at 30 fps
≈85 MB
Half of the 170 MB per minute Apple lists in Camera settings for High Efficiency 4K
Same clip at 720p, Target size
9.5 MB
Under the free Discord limit with a small margin, sharp on a phone
Questions about compressing video
How small can I compress a video before it looks bad?
It depends on length more than on the starting size. As a rough guide, keep at least about 1 Mbps of video for 720p and 2 Mbps for 1080p. A 10 MB target leaves enough for roughly a minute of clean 720p; a 10-minute talk squeezed into 10 MB will look soft whatever the tool.
Why is the compressed video still slightly under my target instead of exactly on it?
The encoder aims at or just below the number you type, because going over would break the limit you are trying to meet. Two-pass encoding keeps the gap small, usually within a few percent.
Is it better to lower the resolution or the quality?
For a phone screen, lowering the resolution usually wins: 720p at a healthy bitrate looks cleaner than 1080p starved of bits. That is why Maximum resolution exists alongside Target size; use both together for small targets.
Can I compress a video for WhatsApp without it being compressed again by the app?
WhatsApp re-encodes videos sent as normal media, so any file can lose more quality on the way. Sending a video that is already small and in MP4 with H.264 limits that second hit. The compress video for WhatsApp preset is set to 16 MB for that reason.
Does compressing remove the location data from my phone video?
Yes, by default. Strip metadata is on, which removes GPS coordinates, the device model and the creation date. Turn it off if you need the original recording date kept for a photo library.
Can I upload a 1 GB video here?
No. Each file can be up to 95 MB. For longer recordings, lower the camera resolution before filming, or split the recording into shorter clips with trim video and compress each part.
Which output format makes the smallest file?
The codec matters more than the container. H.265 or AV1 inside MP4, or VP9 or AV1 inside WebM, reach the same quality at a smaller size than H.264. Keep H.264 if the receiver might use an older phone, TV or work laptop.
All Compress Video tools
Pick the exact target you were asked for. Every page below is the same tool with different defaults.
- Compress Video for WhatsAppShrink a video to fit WhatsApp's 16 MB media limit as an H.264 MP4 at 720p, so it sends in the chat and loses less when WhatsApp re-compresses it.
- Compress Video to 10 MBCompress a video to 10 MB for Discord's free upload limit or email. Two-pass encoding hits the size; bitrate math shows what 30, 60 or 120 seconds can hold.