Compress video for WhatsApp
16 MB is the ceiling for video sent as media. That is less than a minute of 720p, so almost nothing shot on a phone clears it untouched.
Select the files you want to compress or convert and upload them here.
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Supported compression and conversion formats:
JPEG, JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, MP3, TIFF, TIF, BMP, DIB, RLE, JP2, JPF, JPG2, JPX, J2K, JPC, MJ2, OGG, OGV, SPX, WAV, 3GP, AAC, M4A, M4B, OPUS, OGA, MP4, AVI, MKV, MKA, SVG, EXR, RAW, ARW, SRF, SR2, CRW, CR2, CR3, DNG, DCR, KDC, ERF, 3FR, MEF, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RWL, RW2, SRW, X3F, PDF, JXL.
16 MB is very little for video
A minute of 1080p phone footage weighs 60–100 MB — four to six times over the limit. There are two ways in: lower the resolution and bitrate, or shorten the clip. The table shows what actually fits.
WhatsApp will re-compress it anyway — crudely
Video sent as media is re-encoded by the messenger without asking. It does this aggressively and with no regard for content, which is exactly why forwarded clips look like mush and any text in them becomes unreadable.
Compressing beforehand gives a cleaner result at the same final size: you decide what to sacrifice — resolution or bitrate — instead of handing that decision to the messenger's algorithm. And if quality matters more than convenience, send the file as a document: it arrives untouched.
| Resolution | Bitrate | Fits into 16 MB |
|---|---|---|
| 720p | 2.5 Mbps | about 50 seconds |
| 720p | 1.5 Mbps | about 1.5 minutes |
| 480p | 1 Mbps | about 2 minutes |
| 480p | 0.7 Mbps | about 3 minutes |
| 360p | 0.4 Mbps | about 5 minutes |
Common questions
Why does video arrive blurry on WhatsApp?
The messenger re-encodes everything sent as media, and it does so harshly. Compress the clip to 16 MB first and the picture comes out cleaner — there is little left for WhatsApp to squeeze.
How do I send a long video?
As a document: the limit rises to two gigabytes and the file goes through without re-encoding. The trade-off is that the recipient has to download it rather than watch it in the chat.
Shorter at 720p or longer at 480p?
It depends on the content. Where detail and small text matter, keep 720p and cut the length. For footage where the action matters more than sharpness, two minutes of 480p beats fifty seconds of anything.