Compress a video to email it
Shrink a video until it fits an email attachment limit. The balanced preset is already selected, which keeps 720p detail while removing most of the file size.
MP4, MOV, WebM and most other formats — up to 200 MB and 10 minutes
Trimming copies the stream rather than re-encoding, so it finishes in seconds.
The limits you are working against
Gmail rejects attachments over 25 MB, Outlook.com stops at 20 MB, and many corporate mail servers are stricter still, sometimes as low as 10 MB. The limit that matters is whichever is smaller, yours or the recipient’s, and you usually have no way of knowing theirs. Aiming a little under 20 MB is the practical answer.
Why 720p is the right compromise here
Email attachments are watched on laptops far more often than phones, so cutting all the way to 480p is visible in a way it is not on WhatsApp. The balanced preset caps the picture at 720p, which still removes over half the pixels of a 1080p source while staying sharp on a typical screen. For a screen recording or a demo, this is usually indistinguishable from the original.
When a link beats an attachment
If your video refuses to come down to size without looking poor, that is the file telling you something. Long footage, screen recordings with fine text, and anything over a few minutes are all better shared as a link from cloud storage. Gmail does this automatically over 25 MB by switching to Drive, and the recipient gets the full-quality file rather than a squeezed one.
Frequently asked questions
What size should I aim for?
Under 20 MB is the safe target. It clears Gmail’s 25 MB ceiling with room for the encoding overhead email adds, and it clears Outlook’s 20 MB limit in most cases too.
Does compressing damage the audio?
Audio is re-encoded but it is a small part of the file, so it is not where the savings come from and it is not squeezed hard. Speech stays clear. Music is more demanding and can lose some sparkle at the smallest preset, so use balanced or high quality if the sound matters.
Can I compress a video that is already compressed?
You can, and it will get smaller, but each pass throws away detail permanently. If you have the original, always start from that rather than from a version that has already been through WhatsApp or a previous compression.