Has your video turned out to be besides large? That's the case with most videos you record these days. Fortunately, you can compress your videos and reduce their file size using a variety of methods.

Here we show how to compress a video on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android.

How to Compress a Video on Windows

You lot take multiple ways to shrink a video on a Windows PC. Hither are iii of those means.

1. Compress a Video by Zipping It

ZIP archives assistance you shrink and combine your files. You can create a file annal (such as a ZIP or 7Zip archive) for your video, which in turn compresses the video.

Hither'south how you do that:

  1. To shrink multiple videos, put them all in a single folder on your PC.
  2. Open that folder, select all the videos you want to compress, right-click on any i video, and selectTransport to>Compressed (zipped) folder.
  3. Windows will create a new archive and salvage it in the same folder as your videos.

The size of this archive containing your videos volition be significantly smaller than the size of your original videos.

Want to do it with a unmarried video? Kickoff at step 2 in the above list, using the single video you want to shrink.

2. Compress Your Video Size Smaller Using the Built-In Video Editor

Windows 10 has an integrated video editor and you lot tin utilise it to make your videos smaller in size. There are multiple options to shrink videos in this app. Here's how you use it:

  1. Search for Video editor using the First Carte du jour and select the Best Match.
  2. Click the + (plus) sign on the New video project carte to create a new project.
  3. Click Add and add the video yous want to compress.
  4. Right-click on your video and select Place in the storyboard.
    Add video to the timeline in Video editor
  5. Click Stop video in the top-correct corner.
  6. Cull an option from the Video Quality dropdown menu to compress your video. The lower the resolution y'all choose, the smaller your resulting video will be. So, hit Consign.
    Reduce video size with the built-in Video editor

Please note that selecting a small resolution size can subtract the quality of your video. You may take to play around with video compression settings to find the sweet point of quality and file size.

three. Reduce the Video File Size Using VLC Media Thespian

VLC is not just a media thespian app. It's more than that. Yous tin can use this app to encode your videos using diverse codecs, and this should help y'all shrink the size of your videos.

Hither's how yous utilize VLC as a compression tool:

  1. Open up VLC, click the Media menu at the superlative, and select Convert/Save.
  2. Click the Add button, add your video file, and hitting Convert/Salvage at the bottom.
  3. The Contour dropdown carte is what lets yous compress your video file. Click this menu, choose the contour that best suits the device where you lot will be playing this video, select a destination, and click Start at the bottom.
    Shrink a video using VLC
  4. If you lot want to change the video resolution, or you want to specify any other settings, you tin do and then past clicking the spanner icon adjacent to the Profile dropdown carte.

How to Shrink a Video on a Mac

There are both internal as well equally external methods to reduce the file size of a video on your Mac. If you want a simpler option, the built-in method is dandy. For more flexibility and customizations, go for the external method.

You tin can use both of those methods equally follows.

i. Brand a Video Smaller Using QuickTime Thespian

QuickTime Thespian is a media player app just yous tin utilize it to salvage your videos in a lower resolution. This allows y'all to create a re-create of your video that's much smaller than the original video file. As with other forms of compression, you may experience some quality loss in the output video file.

Here's how y'all exercise that:

  1. Open up your video in QuickTime Player.
  2. Click File at the top, select Export As, and cull a resolution for your video.
    Reduce the video size with QuickTime Player
  3. Select a folder to salvage your video and hit Salvage.

2. Utilize HandBrake to Compress a Video

QuickTime Player doesn't take many options to customize your file compression tasks. If y'all're looking for more options, a tool like HandBrake tin help yous out.

HandBrake is a free and open-source app that allows you lot to convert and encode your videos using various codecs. It has loads of customizable options and this lets you produce a compressed file exactly the way yous want.

You lot can employ HandBrake every bit follows to compress your videos:

  1. Launch HandBrake, click Open up Source, and load the video file that you want to shrink.
  2. Click the Preset bill of fare and choose ane of the many presets to shrink your file. Most options are cocky-explanatory so you lot shouldn't have whatever issues.
    Compress a video using HandBrake
  3. Customize any other options you want.
  4. When you're ready, click Start to begin compressing your video.

HandBrake is a great tool for macOS, but it is also available to Windows users, likewise.

How to Reduce the Video File Size on an iPhone

You don't demand to transfer your iPhone'due south videos to a computer to shrink them. There are apps on the official iOS App Shop that let you lot shrink your videos right on your iOS device.

Video Compress (gratis but advertising-supported) is i of those apps that lets you lot reduce the size of your videos. But load your video in the app, cull appropriate options, and become a reduced version of your video.

Hither's how y'all do that:

  1. Launch the app and tap the red icon in the middle of the screen. Then, allow the app to access your phone'southward content.
  2. Tap one of the videos in your gallery that yous want to convert. And then, tap the checkmark at the top.
  3. On the following screen, drag the slider to specify the compression ratio for your video. Dragging the slider to the left will reduce the video file size, but this will impact the quality of the video. Continue a balance and then tap the icon at the top-right corner.
  4. Let your video compress, and then tap Salve to save it to the Photos app.

How to Compress a Video on Android Devices

Android devices likewise have several apps to compress videos. Ane of these apps is Video Compress which is free but comes with in-app purchases.

Use this app equally follows to compress videos directly on your Android device:

  1. Open up the app and allow information technology to access your files.
  2. Tap the video you desire to reduce the size for and select Shrink Video.
  3. The post-obit screen displays various pinch options. Tap the one that you lot are okay with and the app volition begin the compression procedure.
  4. Employ the Custom tab at the top if you want to configure settings for the process.

Lower the Size and Not the Quality of Your Videos

You lot don't always have to compromise with the quality of your videos to reduce their size. There are tools that significantly reduce your videos' size without having much of an touch on on quality. This is what the methods in a higher place help you achieve on your devices.

Like videos, y'all tin can compress your audio files as well. This helps shrink the size of your music files without actually reducing their quality. You can do this audio compression on various platforms out at that place.

How to Compress Large Audio Files: five Easy and Effective Ways

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Virtually The Author

Mahesh Makvana (307 Manufactures Published)

Mahesh is a tech writer at MakeUseOf. He'due south been writing tech how-to guides for about 8 years at present and has covered many topics. He loves to teach people how they can go the most out of their devices.

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