Compress a video
Make a video smaller so it will send or upload.
Drop your file here
Processed securely and deleted within the hour.
What compression actually changes
Video compression works by discarding detail the eye is least likely to miss — fine texture, subtle gradients, and the parts of a frame that barely changed from the one before. The quality setting decides how aggressive that discarding is.
Two things dominate the result: the quality level and the resolution. Reducing resolution is often the better trade. A 1080p video compressed hard looks blocky in motion; the same file at 720p with gentler compression usually looks better and lands at a similar size.
The levels
- Light — barely noticeable, modest savings. For archiving.
- Balanced — the sensible default. Substantially smaller, still good on a phone or laptop screen.
- Strong — visible softening in detailed scenes, big savings. For sending.
- Extreme — clearly degraded, but it will fit almost anywhere.
Removing the audio
Underrated. A soundtrack can be a surprisingly large share of a short clip, and screen recordings, silent demos and background footage frequently do not need it at all. Removing it is free and lossless for the video.
Where compression achieves little
A video already compressed once has had its easy savings taken. Footage straight from a phone compresses well; a clip already processed by a messaging app or downloaded from a streaming service may barely shrink, and if our result comes out larger we return the original unchanged rather than dress that up as a saving.
If you have a hard limit
Use Compress video to an exact size, which computes the bitrate from your number instead of applying a preset and hoping.
Length limit
Fifteen minutes of source. Transcoding runs inside a request with a fixed lifetime, so longer clips need trimming first.
Common questions
How much smaller will it get?
Phone footage often halves at the balanced setting. Already-compressed video may barely shrink.
Should I lower the resolution?
Often yes. 720p with gentle compression usually looks better than hard-compressed 1080p at a similar size.
Can I remove the audio?
Yes, and it is worth doing for screen recordings and silent footage — the saving is free.
Why did my file get no smaller?
It was already efficiently compressed. We return the original rather than a same-sized file called a saving.
How long can the video be?
Fifteen minutes, because transcoding has to finish inside one request.
Is my video kept?
No, it is deleted as soon as the download is sent.