Free Video Compressor

Getting a video under a specific file size

Almost nobody compresses a video for its own sake. You compress because something on the other end refuses to take the file: a chat app, an email attachment, an upload form with a number in the fine print. The number is the job.

That is why this tool asks for the size first. You give it a ceiling and it works backwards to a bitrate that lands under it, using the clip's duration to do the arithmetic. A 30-second clip and a 30-minute clip targeting the same size are different problems, and a tool that only offers 720p or 480p makes you solve that yourself by trial and error.

If the target is small relative to the length, the tool drops the resolution too, because past a point no bitrate is low enough to keep a 1080p frame intact. It says so before it does it rather than quietly handing back something soft.

Sending a clip on Discord without it bouncing

Discord rejects the file before it starts sending. You do not find out at 90%, you find out immediately, and the message tells you nothing useful about how much smaller it needs to be.

The ceiling depends on what you are paying for. Discord's own help centre puts the maximum upload at 10MB without Nitro, 50 MB on Nitro Basic and 500 MB on full Nitro. The same page adds that Discord is experimenting with upload limits and some accounts can send larger files, so treat any number on any website, this one included, as what was true when it was written. Your client is the authority.

Two things follow. The free ceiling has moved more than once, which is why you still find tools built around 8MB and 25MB, and aiming at an old number costs you quality for nothing. And if you are unsure which tier you are on, compress to the smallest ceiling. A clip that clears the free limit clears every limit above it.

For gameplay and screen recordings the length is usually the problem, not the resolution. Trim the clip to the part you want people to see before you compress it. Ten seconds at a decent bitrate beats two minutes of mush.

What you are giving up, in plain terms

Compression is lossy. No setting in any tool makes a file smaller for free. The encoder decides what to throw away, and the smaller the target, the more it throws.

Fine detail in motion goes first. Grass, water, smoke, confetti, fast camera pans, anything with a lot of small moving elements. You get blocking in dark areas and a soft, smeared look on movement. Static talking-head footage survives far better than a fast game clip, which is why the same target size looks perfect on one video and terrible on another.

Three things help. Cut the clip shorter, since size scales with duration before anything else. Drop the resolution on purpose if the target is aggressive, because a clean 720p beats a broken 1080p. And start from the best source you have, since compressing an already-compressed file stacks the damage from both passes.

When compressing is the last step of something bigger

A compressor is where a video workflow ends. Something has to make the video first.

That is what Unsora does. It connects to ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants over MCP, so you describe what you want in ordinary language and the assistant does it in the same conversation: generate the video, clip a long one into short ones, add subtitles, upscale footage that came out too small, make a thumbnail, add music or a voiceover, then schedule the result to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. No new app, no prompt syntax.

Eleven creator tools in one subscription. Plans start at $19/mo with 500 credits, Pro is $39/mo with 1,100 credits, and every plan has a 3-day free trial. This compressor is free and stays free either way.