Video compressor for every app: which setting fits WhatsApp, email, Discord and more?
Match the setting to where the video is going: under 64 MB at 720p for WhatsApp, under 18 MB for email, under 20 MB for Discord, and gentle High quality compression for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, which take big files. Each link below opens our free online video compressor set for that app, and it never uploads the video.
We make OctoZip and the online video compressor. The limits come from each service's own help pages, checked on 1 November 2026 unless a guide says otherwise; the guides linked below have the details, steps for Android and computers, and worked sizes.
The setting for each app
Pick the app, open the compressor with its setting, then choose your video. You can change anything before you compress.
| Where the video goes | What limits you | Open the compressor set for it | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 MB for any video sent or forwarded; 720p by default | Under 64 MB, 720p | Compress for WhatsApp | |
| Email: Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo | 25 MB a message; attaching adds about a third | Under 18 MB | Compress for email |
| Discord, free account | 20 MB a file (50 MB with Nitro Basic) | Under 20 MB | Compress for Discord |
| Instagram Reels and posts | No file-size limit published; upload time | High quality, up to 1080p | Compress for Instagram |
| TikTok | Upload time | High quality, up to 1080p | Compress for TikTok |
| YouTube | 256 GB or 12 hours; upload time | High quality, original resolution | Compress for YouTube |
| Screen recordings | Full-screen size; text must stay sharp | High quality, up to 1080p | Compress a screen recording |
| 4K phone video | Four times the pixels of 1080p | High quality at 1080p | Compress a 4K video |
Checked on 1 November 2026. For the limits of other apps (Telegram, Slack, Signal, LinkedIn and more), see video limits on every major app or the size limit checker.
Messaging apps: WhatsApp and Discord
Messaging apps have hard size limits, so aim just under them. WhatsApp's pages give 64 MB as the most for any video sent or forwarded, and send chat video at 720p by default, so the WhatsApp setting spends 64 MB on a 720p picture. That holds about 5 minutes before fast motion gets soft. Discord's free accounts take 20 MB, about a minute at 720p or two at 480p. Details: compress a video for WhatsApp and for Discord; for videos too big for either, see sending a large video on WhatsApp.
Aim for 18 MB, not 25. Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail cap a message at 25 MB, and email sends attachments as text that is about a third bigger (18 × 4 ÷ 3 = 24 MB). About a minute of 1080p phone video fits at 720p; past about 3 minutes, a link works better. Details: compress a video for email and email attachment size limits.
Social video: Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
Compress gently or not at all. These services take large files and make their own versions after you upload, so a hard squeeze only adds loss. Compress when the upload is too slow, keep the resolution (or bring 4K down to 1080p), and keep the frame rate. For YouTube, YouTube recommends 8 Mbps for 1080p at 30 fps; the compressor's Target size at 65 MB per minute lands there. Details: Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Screen recordings and 4K video
These are big because of their pixels, so bring them to 1080p and keep the quality high. A screen recording needs readable text, so it gets High quality rather than a halved resolution; a 4K clip at 1080p has a quarter of the pixels. Details: compress a screen recording and compress a 4K video.
How do the links set the compressor?
Each link adds the app's name to the compressor's address, for example /video-compressor?preset=whatsapp. The page then picks the setting, the size in MB and the resolution, and says what it set. Nothing else changes: the compressor still runs in your browser, the video still isn't uploaded, and you can change any setting before you compress. It works in recent Chrome and Edge on phones and computers, one video at a time, up to about 1–2 GB.
Which preset should I use in the OctoZip app?
On Android, the OctoZip app compresses on the phone, works without a connection and lets you compare before saving. It has three presets rather than per-app settings and no size in MB, so use this as a starting point and read the size after compressing:
| Where it goes | Start with |
|---|---|
| Medium file; Small file (easy share) for long videos | |
| Email or Discord | Small file (easy share) |
| Instagram, TikTok, YouTube | Best Quality; Medium file for 4K |
| Screen recordings | Medium file, then check the text with Compare |
Small file uses about a third of the resolution, Medium file half, and Best Quality keeps it. The app is free with no ads; batch compression, files over 3 GB and 8K sources need OctoZip Pro. It runs on Android 7.0 or later.
What this page doesn't cover
- Limits change. Each guide has its own "checked on" date; check the service's own page before an important send.
- The settings are starting points. A video saved from a chat app is already compressed and shrinks less.
- Comparisons with other video compressors are in our comparison of Android video compressors and the pages it links to.
Sources
Checked on 1 November 2026.
- WhatsApp Help Center: How to send media and Can't send longer videos.
- Gmail Help: attachment size limits; Microsoft Support: Outlook.com attachments.
- Discord: File Attachments FAQ.
- YouTube Help: maximum upload size and recommended upload encoding settings.