Compress video

Make a video file smaller in your browser. Pick a quality level or a target size in megabytes; nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Drop your files here

.mp4, .mov, .mkv, .webm, .avi, .m4v · up to 200 MB

Choose files

How to Compress the video

1
Add your video
MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM or AVI, up to 200 MB and five minutes: a phone recording too big to attach is the usual case.
2
Choose a quality level or a target size
Three levels cover most cases. If a limit has to be met exactly, 16 MB for WhatsApp say, type the number instead and the bitrate is worked out for you.
3
Click Compress and download
The result is an MP4 that plays everywhere. If it comes out bigger than the original, you get the original back instead.

How much quality you lose

That depends on the level, and the three are not arbitrary: each sets a number of bits per pixel per frame, so the same setting looks about the same whether the video is 480p or 4K. Light keeps the picture close to the original and usually saves a third of the size; balanced is the setting most people should use and typically halves it; strong is for when the file has to be small and you accept softness in fast motion. Video that already came out of a phone or a modern camera is compressed at a sensible bitrate already, so the savings there are smaller than on footage from a screen recorder or an old camera, which are usually wildly overspent.

Hitting an exact limit

Typing a target size switches the tool from “make it look good” to “make it fit”, which is a different problem. The bitrate is computed from your number, the duration and the audio, with a small margin for the container; the video is encoded and measured, and if it landed outside the window the bitrate is corrected and it runs again, up to three passes. That is why a target takes longer than a level. If the number is impossible, because a five-minute video will not become 2 MB and still be watchable, the tool says so before encoding anything and tells you the smallest size it can reach.

Why the browser encodes and not a server

H.264 is a patented format, and the right to encode it is something browser vendors have already paid for. Calling the browser's own encoder keeps that right where it belongs, keeps your file on your machine, and costs us nothing to run, which is why there is no queue, no account and no limit on how many videos you compress. The trade-off is that encoding uses your processor, so a long 4K video takes minutes rather than seconds, and browsers without the encoder cannot run the tool at all. On those, the page says so rather than failing halfway.

Resolution, frame rate and sound

Lowering the resolution is the single biggest saving available, because bytes scale with pixels: going from 1080p to 720p removes more than half the picture data before compression even starts. Dropping 60 frames per second to 30 halves it again, at the cost of smoothness in fast motion; going below 24 makes movement visibly jerky and is not offered. Audio is re-encoded to AAC at your chosen bitrate: 128 kbps is transparent for most material, 96 is fine for speech, and 64 is for when every megabyte counts.

Compressed by your own browser

Frames are decoded and encoded again by the H.264 encoder built into your browser, so the bitrate you choose is spent on your device, not on a server. If the result would be larger than the original, the original comes back instead. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no cap on how many videos you compress.

Frequently asked questions

How much quality will I lose?

At the balanced level, little that you would notice on a phone or a laptop screen, for about half the size. Light is closer to the original and saves less; strong saves the most and shows softness in fast motion. Footage that was already well compressed loses more than footage that was not.

What do the three levels mean?

Each is a number of bits per pixel per frame: 0.10, 0.065 and 0.04. Expressing it that way means the same level gives comparable results at any resolution, instead of a fixed bitrate that is generous for 480p and starvation for 4K.

How do I get a video under 16 MB for WhatsApp?

Type 16 into the target size field and set Resolution to 720p, so the bits go further. The tool then encodes, measures and corrects until it lands under the limit, or tells you the limit is not reachable for that length. Compress Video for WhatsApp does the same with the size, resolution and sound already set for WhatsApp.

Is my video uploaded to a server?

No. Everything happens in this tab, with your browser's own encoder. The file is never sent anywhere, there is no account, and nothing is stored after you close the page.

Why the 200 MB and five-minute limits?

Because every frame is decoded and re-encoded in your browser's memory. Beyond those numbers the tab becomes unreliable on ordinary machines, and failing halfway through a long encode is worse than refusing up front. Trim the video first, or split it.

Why does it not work in my browser?

The tool needs the WebCodecs encoder, which Chrome 94+, Safari 26+ and desktop Firefox 130+ have and Firefox on Android does not. Where it is missing the page says so before you start, and points at the tools that work without encoding.

Can I compress without losing any quality?

Not by re-encoding. H.264 is lossy, and every pass costs something. What comes closest is the light level, which is visually indistinguishable on most material. If the file has to shrink without touching the picture, trimming unused footage is the only lossless way.

What happens to the audio?

It is re-encoded to AAC at the bitrate you choose and kept in the result. If the video has no audio track, the option is not shown and nothing is added.