Compress a video to a specific size

How to compress a video to a size

1. Add your video, or up to five at once.
2. Press a quick setting (WhatsApp, Email, Discord) or choose a target size from the list.
3. Press Compress to this size. The result screen tells you whether it came in under the target.

How it reaches the size

A video’s file size is its bitrate multiplied by its length. So the tool starts from your target: it takes the size you chose, keeps a margin of about 8% for the file container, subtracts a small share for the sound, and turns the rest into a video bitrate. A one-minute clip aimed at 16 MB gets roughly 2 megabits per second; a ten-minute one gets a tenth of that.

When that bitrate is too low for the picture size, the picture gets noisy and blocky. To avoid that the tool steps the resolution down (1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, 240p) until each pixel gets enough data, and keeps the original shape. If the first encode still ends up above your target, it encodes once more with a lower bitrate. If the second attempt is still over, you get the file anyway with a clear note, so you can pick a smaller size.

When it says no

• The video is already smaller than the target. There is nothing to gain; choose a smaller size if you still want to shrink it.
• The video is too long for the size. Below roughly 80 kilobits per second of video there is no usable picture left. Trim the video first, or pick a larger size.

Sizes people ask for

The quick settings use common limits: 16 MB for WhatsApp videos, 20 MB for email attachments (a 25 MB limit leaves about 18 MB after email encoding), and 10 MB for Discord. These limits change from time to time and differ by account type, so check the app if a file is refused.