How to compress a video for WhatsApp

WhatsApp squeezes or refuses large videos. If you shrink the file to about 15 MB first, it sends smoothly and you decide how much quality to give up.

Step by step

1. Open the Compress to Size tool and choose your video.
2. Set Target size (MB) to 15. That leaves a little room under WhatsApp's limit for normal videos.
3. Press Start and wait. The first run downloads the video engine, which takes a little longer.
4. Press Download, then attach the new file in WhatsApp as a video (not as a document).

Why WhatsApp has a size limit

When you send a clip as a normal video, WhatsApp limits it to roughly 16 MB and recompresses it. A short phone clip in HD can easily be 50 MB or more, so WhatsApp has to shrink it hard or reject it.

If you shrink it yourself first, you pick the balance between size and sharpness instead of leaving it to the app. WhatsApp also lets you send bigger files as a document, up to about 2 GB at the time of writing, and those are not compressed. That is the better choice if you need the original quality and the other person has a good connection.

If it is still too big after compressing

Very long videos cannot stay sharp at 15 MB. Cut the clip down first with the Trim Video tool, then compress it. Every second you remove gives the remaining seconds more room.

Tips

• Trim the start and end first. It is the fastest way to save space.
• Short clips look much better than long clips at the same file size.
• Check the size shown after processing. If it is above 16 MB, lower the target to 12 and run it again.
• Keep the tab open until the Download button appears.

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