Compress Video for WhatsApp
WhatsApp compresses videos automatically when you send them, often hurting quality. Pre-compressing gives you more control.
Drag and drop your video here
or
Choose videoMP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM and more · up to 500MB per file · select several to batch compress
birthday-video.mp4
Ready to download
14.6 MB
from 148 MB
Sends as a playable video — no “file too large” error.
Avoids WhatsApp's own aggressive auto-compression, which can blur video further
Gets long clips under the attachment size limit so they send as a video, not a document
Faster to send over mobile data since the file is already small
WhatsApp file size limits
WhatsApp Status videos are limited to 30 seconds; regular chat video attachments cap around 16MB on most plans.
Use the 'Strong' or 'Superb' preset to comfortably fit under WhatsApp's attachment limits without WhatsApp re-compressing it further.
Recommended settings
What we'd pick for this job. After choosing a file, resolution sits right under the compression settings, crop is under “Resize / crop”, and codec is under “Advanced settings”.
Target size · 16 MB
Pre-filled on this page — stays under the chat video cap.
H.264
WhatsApp plays it inline on every phone.
720p
Looks sharp on a phone and leaves more of the 16 MB for length.
Original or 9:16
Use 9:16 for Status so it fills the screen.
Original from your gallery
Not a copy that's already been sent through WhatsApp.
How much video fits in 16MB?
Approximate length at typical streaming bitrates, with 128kbps audio. Target-size mode works out the exact bitrate for your clip automatically — this just shows what to expect.
1080p
~24 sec
at ~5.1 Mbps
720p
~48 sec
at ~2.6 Mbps
480p
~1 min 53 sec
at ~1.1 Mbps
Tips for the best result
Leave a little headroom
Aim for 14–15MB rather than exactly 16MB. It keeps you safely under the cap across app versions and avoids a last-second rejection.
720p is the sweet spot
Most people watch WhatsApp videos on a phone. Choose 720p under Resolution — it looks sharp on a phone and leaves far more room for length than 1080p in the same size.
Long video? Send as a document
If a clip still won't fit, attach it as a Document instead. It skips WhatsApp's re-compression, though it won't play inline in the chat.
Trim before you compress
Every second you cut is size saved at full quality. Removing a slow intro or a long ending is usually worth more than an extra compression step.
How it works
Step 1
Upload
Drop your file in — up to 500MB free.
Step 2
Pick a quality
Basic, Strong, or Superb compression.
Step 3
Download
Get your smaller video in seconds.
Frequently Asked Questions
WhatsApp automatically compresses every video you send to save bandwidth, and its algorithm isn't tuned for quality — pre-compressing with a controlled setting usually looks better than letting WhatsApp do it.
You can send it as a 'Document' instead of a media attachment, which allows larger files and skips WhatsApp's re-compression — but it won't play inline in the chat.
No, Status length is capped at 30 seconds per segment regardless of file size — compression only affects the file size, not the duration.
The underlying limits are similar, but compression behavior can vary slightly by app version — pre-compressing to a smaller size avoids relying on WhatsApp's own processing either way.
WhatsApp still applies its own compression pass to any media sent through chat — sending as a 'Document' is the only way to bypass that entirely.