Sending a phone video by email
30-second 4K iPhone clip = 200 MB. Gmail caps at 25 MB. Compress to 1080p at 1 Mbps = ~5 MB. Fits, looks fine on phones.
All tools
Video Compressor
Compress MP4, MOV, WebM videos to fit email attachment limits or speed up uploads. Browser-only via ffmpeg.wasm.
- 100% local
- No signup
- Works offline once loaded
For huge videos (500MB+), use a desktop tool like Handbrake (free, open-source) — it's significantly faster than browser-based compression because it uses hardware acceleration.
What this does
Compress video to WebM — pick bitrate, pick resolution, keep it local.
Phone videos at 4K hit 250 MB per minute. Email and most chat apps reject them. Drop your video in, pick bitrate (lower = smaller), pick scale (smaller dimensions = much smaller file), download a compressed WebM. Runs in your browser — no upload. For huge files (500MB+), the in-browser approach has limits; recommend Handbrake instead.
How to compress a video
- 1
Drop your video
MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV — any format your browser plays. File size and current format show automatically.
- 2
Pick bitrate + scale
Bitrate controls quality vs. size — 1-2 Mbps for web sharing, 4-8 Mbps for higher quality. Scale lowers pixel count — 50% scale = 4x smaller dimensions on disk.
- 3
Compress and download
Re-encoding takes about real-time (a 2-minute video takes ~2 minutes). The compressed WebM downloads, original is untouched.
When video compression matters
Web
Hosting video on a personal site
Convert MOV from camera to WebM at controlled bitrate. Plays in all modern browsers, smaller bandwidth bill.
Social
Cutting size for slow upload
On hotel Wi-Fi or mobile data, uploading a 200 MB file takes 20+ minutes. Compress first, upload 1/10th the size.
Backup
Archiving family videos
10 years of phone videos at original size = 500 GB. Compressed at quality-preserved settings = 100 GB. Easier to back up to cloud.
Client review
Sending a rough cut to client
Director doesn't need ProRes for first review. Send a 5 MB H.264-compressed version, save bandwidth on both sides.
Video compression tips
- 01
Browser-based has limits — use Handbrake for big files
In-browser compression maxes out around 200 MB source. Above that, install Handbrake (free, open-source) — it's GPU-accelerated and much faster.
- 02
Bitrate matters more than resolution
Dropping 4K → 1080p saves 75% file size. Dropping bitrate from 4 Mbps → 1 Mbps saves another 75%. Combined: 95%+ savings with quality fine for most uses.
- 03
WebM isn't universal — convert if recipient needs MP4
WebM plays in modern browsers but Apple devices may need conversion to MP4 for direct playback. If sharing with iPhone users, convert WebM → MP4 with Handbrake after.
- 04
Audio is usually the bottleneck for short videos
For a 30-second clip, audio takes proportionally more space than for a long video. If the audio doesn't matter (silent demo), strip it during compression to save extra space.
No signup. No upload. Just the result.
Local only
Files never leave your browser.
Everything runs locally in this tab. Nothing uploads, nothing stores on a server, nothing indexes.
Ready in seconds
Fast — no queues, no ads.
No progress bars stuck at 99%, no rate limits, no 'please wait' screens. Drop, click, done.
On Pro
Branded delivery, when needed.
When the free tool isn't enough, deliver from files.your-agency.com — password and view analytics included.
More free tools for the handoff.
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PDF Compressor
Helps users send oversized PDFs that fail email and portal upload limits.
PDF Merge
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PDF Split
Extracting pages from a PDF usually requires uploading to a third party. This tool does it locally in your browser.
Frequently asked
No. Compression runs entirely in your browser using ffmpeg.wasm. The video never leaves your device. First compression takes ~10 seconds to load ffmpeg; subsequent compressions are faster.
Input: MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI, MKV, FLV, and most modern formats. Output: MP4 (H.264 + AAC) — the most universally compatible format.
Most video is over-encoded. 50-70% size reduction with minimal visible quality loss is realistic on the 'medium' preset. For 'high quality' use light compression (20-30% reduction).
ffmpeg.wasm runs in a sandboxed JS environment without hardware acceleration. Expect 0.3-0.5x realtime speed (a 60-second video takes 2-3 minutes to compress). For frequent large-video work, use a desktop tool like Handbrake.
Browser memory limits make 1GB+ compression unreliable. For very large videos, compress in segments OR use a desktop tool. The browser tool works best for 10MB-500MB clips.