How to compress a video
Phone videos are big: a minute of 4K can be several hundred megabytes, far too much for email, chat apps or a website. This tool shrinks a video in your browser, either to fit a target size like 10 MB or to a quality level you choose, and shows an estimate before you start. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no watermark.
- 1
Add your video
Drop in an MP4, MOV or WebM video up to 10 minutes long. The preview shows its length, resolution and current size.
- 2
Choose how small
Pick “Fit a file size” and choose 10 MB for Discord, 25 MB for email, or any custom size. Or pick “Pick a quality” and choose High, Balanced or Smallest, plus a resolution.
- 3
Check the estimate
The tool shows the size and resolution you will get. If a target is too small for the video’s length, it tells you the smallest sensible size, or suggests trimming first.
- 4
Compress and download
The result card shows the new size and how much smaller it is, with a preview so you can check the quality before sharing.
How file size works
A video’s size is its bitrate (how much data each second uses) times its length. To hit a target size, the tool divides the space available by the video’s length, sets aside a little for the sound, and keeps a small safety margin. A 60-second clip squeezed into 10 MB gets about 1.2 megabits per second for the picture.
When that budget is too thin for the full resolution, the tool lowers the resolution (1080p, then 720p, then 480p), because a smaller, cleaner picture looks better than a big, blocky one. If the result still comes out slightly too large, it automatically tries once more at a lower bitrate.
Target size or quality?
- Fit a file size when there is a hard limit: Discord, email attachments, upload forms, messaging apps. You get a file under the limit, at the best quality that fits.
- Pick a quality when you just want a smaller file that still looks good, for example to save space or speed up a website. Balanced usually cuts phone videos to a fraction of their size with little visible change.
The longer the video, the lower the quality for the same size. If a target is too small, trimming to the part you need is often better than squeezing harder. For the Discord limit specifically, use Compress for Discord, and see our guide to getting under 10 MB.
What you get
The compressed file is an H.264 MP4, which plays on every phone, computer and app. The sound is converted to AAC at 96 kbps, which is clear for speech and music. In Firefox, which can’t create AAC, the original sound is kept as it was. Compression never makes a video larger on purpose: in quality mode, the bitrate is capped below the original’s.
Because the result is re-encoded, compressing an already small or heavily compressed video won’t shrink it much, and the tool tells you when the video is already under your target.
Private by design
Most online compressors upload the whole file first, which is slow for big videos and means a copy sits on someone else’s server. Here, your browser does the compression on your own device. How it works shows how to check that nothing is sent.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress a video to 10 MB?
Choose “Fit a file size”, pick 10 MB, and press Compress video. The tool picks the bitrate and resolution that fit, and retries once if the first result is slightly over.
Will compressing ruin the quality?
It depends on how much you shrink it. Moderate compression is hard to notice; very small targets for long videos look soft or blocky. The estimate shows the resolution you will get before you start.
Why is my video still too big?
Very busy footage (confetti, water, fast motion) needs more data. The tool retries once at a lower bitrate; if it is still over, choose a slightly smaller target or trim the video.
What is the smallest size I can choose?
It depends on length: the picture needs a minimum amount of data per second. If your target is too small, the tool tells you the smallest sensible size for that video.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Compression runs in your browser and the result downloads straight to your device.
Is there a watermark?
No. ClipCocoon never adds a watermark.