Compress video to 1 MB

Just under it. We aim a few percent below 1 MB so it’s certain to fit, since sites and apps reject a file that is even slightly over.

Then it already fits, and the page tells you so. You can send it as it is, or still make it smaller with a preset.

That depends on its length. A short video keeps its full resolution; a longer one is scaled down, to 720p or lower, so the picture stays clean instead of blocky. The table above shows where each step starts. The sound keeps its quality unless the size is very small for the length.

Past 0:18 there aren’t enough bits for a watchable picture, even at 360p, and the page asks for a bigger size. Trim the video with our video cutter first, or choose a bigger size.

A short one, yes: a few seconds keep a sharp picture and up to about twenty seconds fit at 360p. A longer video doesn’t have enough bits left for a watchable picture, so trim it first or choose a bigger size.

When the text goes as MMS, the carrier limits it to about 1 MB, and a phone video is far bigger. A 1 MB file goes through on every carrier. If you both use iMessage, RCS or a chat app, the limit is much higher.

Because those few bits are spread over every second of it. Halve the length and each second gets twice as much, so the page can keep a higher resolution; our video cutter trims it before you compress.

H.265 keeps more detail in the same 1 MB, so a longer video can keep a higher resolution. Choose it when the people you send it to have newer devices; H.264 plays everywhere.

Not when your browser can handle it: then it’s compressed on your device. Otherwise it goes to our server over an encrypted connection and is deleted 2 hours after compressing.