How to compress a video for WhatsApp and email
You have a video on your phone, and the app says it is too big to send. Here is what the limits are, why videos get so big, and how to make one smaller without it turning into a blurry mess.
The limits
Gmail allows 25 MB of attachments per email; a larger file is automatically turned into a Google Drive link. Outlook.com usually allows around 20 MB. WhatsApp has long listed 16 MB for videos sent as media in its help pages; newer versions may allow more, and any file sent as a document (using the paperclip and choosing Document) can be up to 2 GB, but the person receiving it has to download it before watching. Limits change, so if something does not send, check the app's current help page.
Because email attachments are encoded for sending, a file can take up about a third more space in the email than it does on your phone. A 20 MB video can be refused by a 25 MB limit. Aim for a little under the limit, not right at it.
Why phone videos are so big
Modern phones record at high bitrates so the video looks good on a big TV: a minute of 4K video is often a few hundred MB, and even a minute of 1080p is commonly 60 to 130 MB depending on the phone. To send it in a chat, the video has to fit in a tiny fraction of that. The only way to do that is to reduce how much data each second of video gets, which is what a compressor does.
Step by step
- Trim it. Cut the beginning and end and any part you do not need. Length is the single biggest factor in the final size.
- Open the compressor on the compress video page and add your video.
- Choose the target size: 16 MB for WhatsApp, 25 MB for Gmail, or type your own.
- Export and check the result on your phone before sending.
Keeping quality
At a fixed size, a short video can be sharp and a long one cannot. As a rough guide for a 16 MB file: up to about 30 seconds can stay at 1080p, around one to two minutes looks best at 720p, and longer videos need 480p. Snipply chooses the resolution for you based on the length, so it never produces a large but blocky picture.
Steady footage, good light and simple backgrounds all compress better. If your video is a person talking, removing pauses with the silence remover can make it 10 to 30 % shorter, which gives the picture more data and a sharper result.
When to use a link instead
For long videos, such as a whole event or a lecture, compressing to 16 or 25 MB will always lose a lot of quality. Upload the original to a cloud drive or a video platform and send the link instead. Use compression for short clips you want people to watch straight away in the chat.
Last reviewed October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Will WhatsApp compress my video again?
Usually yes, when you send a video as media WhatsApp may compress it further. Sending it as a document keeps the file exactly as it is, but the recipient has to download it first.
Does compressing a video change its sound?
Sound is compressed too, but speech needs very little data, so it usually sounds the same.