Compressing video for WhatsApp and email
Quick answerUse Video Compressor at medium quality and 720p. For anything over a couple of minutes, share a link instead.
The limits
- WhatsApp — around 16 MB when sent as a video.
- Email — around 25 MB for most providers.
Settings that work
For phone viewing, 720p at a medium quality setting is usually enough and cuts the size dramatically. Dropping from 1080p to 720p alone often halves the file.
WhatsApp compresses again anyway
WhatsApp re-encodes every video it sends. Starting from a moderately compressed file gives a better final result than sending a huge original, because its compression has less destructive work to do.
For longer videos, use a link
Upload to Google Drive or YouTube (unlisted) and share the URL. No size limit, no waiting, and the quality stays as uploaded. This is the better answer for anything over about two minutes.
Sending without quality loss
In WhatsApp, attaching the file using the document option instead of the video option skips WhatsApp's compression — the recipient downloads it rather than playing it inline.
