Video Compressor
Cut a phone video from 100 MB down to 10 MB in a few minutes. Nothing is uploaded — the encoding happens on your own device.
How to use
- Choose the video —— Click the box or drag files in. You can queue several at once.
- Pick a compression level —— Standard is right for messaging and email. Use Strong for something that will only ever be watched on a phone, and Light if you plan to edit the footage later.
- Compress —— Do not switch to another tab while it runs. When the progress bar finishes, each file shows its new size and a download button.
- Download —— The output is named with a -compressed suffix. Your original file is never modified.
About Video Compressor
Video files get big for one reason: the default bitrate is far higher than the display needs. A 1080p phone recording typically runs 8–17 Mbps, while 2–4 Mbps is already indistinguishable on a phone screen or a laptop. Bring the bitrate down and the file drops to roughly a tenth of its original size.
This tool uses the browser's own encoder — WebCodecs where available, MediaRecorder as a fallback. Your video is never sent to a server, so there is no upload queue and no file-size limit imposed by someone else's disk. The trade-off is speed: browser encoding runs at roughly real time, so a 3-minute clip takes about 3 minutes. Keep the tab in the foreground while it works.
Output is H.264 inside an MP4 wherever possible — the most compatible combination there is, playable by phones, messaging apps, presentation software and editors alike. If your browser or GPU cannot do H.264 hardware encoding, the tool falls back to WebM (VP9), which every modern browser plays.
FAQ
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole process runs on your device using the browser encoder, and the video data never crosses the network. That also means there is no "upload failed at 90%" problem, and you can safely process private footage.
Why does it take as long as the video itself?
Because in-browser encoding is driven by playback, so it runs at roughly real time. A 3-minute video needs about 3 minutes; a 10-minute one needs 10. That is the price of not uploading — a server-side transcoder would be faster, but your video would have to leave your machine.
Does the quality suffer?
Somewhat, but at the Standard level you will not notice on a phone or a normal monitor. The key variable is resolution rather than bitrate: as long as you do not downscale, the eye is surprisingly tolerant of a lower bitrate. If the video will be projected on a large screen, choose Light and keep the original resolution.
Why does it say "cannot decode" for some files?
Two common causes: video shot with the iPhone HEVC (H.265) codec, which some browsers cannot decode, and MOV files carrying unusual codecs. Set your phone camera to "Most Compatible" (H.264), or convert the file to MP4 elsewhere first.
MP4 or WebM — which should I choose?
If you are sending the file to someone, putting it in a slide deck, or playing it in a messaging app, always choose MP4. WebM is smaller and better for the web, but messaging apps and some editors will not open it.