Compress a video for WhatsApp

WhatsApp re-compresses video itself, and not always well. Do it first and you pick the size and the quality.

Nothing yet.

Other sizes

What to know

• WhatsApp's limits are confusing because the app treats the same file three ways. Sent from the gallery or video button it allows up to 2GB but re-encodes it. Sent with the paperclip as a document it keeps the original quality, with a smaller cap. Older guides saying a flat 16MB are out of date.
• The size is rarely the real problem. The re-encoding is. WhatsApp squeezes video down to roughly 720p with settings tuned for slow connections, so a clip that looked sharp arrives soft. Compressing it yourself first means you pick the trade-off. At 16MB, a 16:9 video stays at 720p up to about 59 seconds, and at 480p up to about 2 minutes.
• On most phones, tap Share when it finishes to send the video straight to WhatsApp.

Questions

Is my video uploaded?

No. It is processed on your device and never sent to a server.

How long does it take?

Usually only seconds. There is no upload or download wait because your device does the work, and most phones and computers have video encoding built in. A long clip on an older phone can take longer.

Why did my video come out at a lower resolution?

A small file has room for only so much detail. Rather than a blocky 1080p video, the tool scales it down so it looks clean. Pick a bigger size or trim the clip to keep more resolution.

It says my browser cannot do it.

Use a current Chrome, Edge or Safari. Not every browser can read every video format.