Compress a video for WhatsApp
WhatsApp refuses videos over its size limit, and the limit depends on how and where you send them. Add yours and it will be re-encoded much smaller, already set to the smallest preset.
- 1Add video
- 2Choose
- 3Download
MP4, MOV, WebM and most other formats — up to 512 MB
Trimming copies the stream rather than re-encoding, so it finishes in seconds.
Why WhatsApp rejects your video
WhatsApp has more than one limit. Videos sent as ordinary media have long been capped at about 16 MB, while sending as a document or through the video attach option allows far more, and WhatsApp Desktop can refuse a video at a figure of its own, such as 180 MB. The numbers have changed over the years and differ between phone, web and desktop, so go by the message WhatsApp shows you. A minute of 1080p footage from a modern phone is typically 60 to 150 MB, so a long recording goes over whichever limit applies. WhatsApp will sometimes compress a video for you, but it does so aggressively and without asking, which is how a clip arrives looking far worse than it did in your camera roll.
What the smallest preset actually does
It caps the picture at 480p and re-encodes with H.264, the codec every phone can play without installing anything. Dropping the resolution does the real work: a 1080p frame holds about five times as many pixels as a 480p one, so most of the file disappears before the encoder has to start discarding detail. On a phone screen the difference is far smaller than the numbers suggest.
If it is still too big
Length is the other half of the equation, and the one people forget. A long video squeezed under a small limit looks rough whichever preset you pick. Cut it down to the part that matters using the trim option, then compress. Thirty seconds at decent quality beats three minutes of mush.
Frequently asked questions
What is the exact WhatsApp video size limit?
There is no single answer. Video sent as ordinary media has been capped at about 16 MB, and larger limits apply when a video is sent as a document or with the video attach option, with figures from 100 MB to 2 GB reported. WhatsApp does not publish one number that holds everywhere, so trust the message it shows you, for example a 180 MB limit on desktop. Sending a file as a document keeps its quality, but the recipient has to download it and it will not play inline in the chat.
Will the video still play on an iPhone?
Yes. The output is standard H.264 video with AAC audio in an MP4 container, which iPhones, Android phones, Macs and Windows have all played natively for years.
Why does WhatsApp make my video blurry even when I do not compress it?
Because it compresses on your behalf when the file is over the limit, using settings tuned for speed rather than quality. Compressing it yourself first means you choose the trade-off instead of WhatsApp choosing it for you, and the result is usually noticeably better at the same file size.