Reference
Guides
Why your file is bigger than you expected, what the platform limits really are, and how to get under one without destroying what you are sending. Every number has its arithmetic shown, because the arithmetic is usually the answer.
12 guides
Video
Bitrate, resolution and the limits of what fits — plus how to get a clip through email and chat apps.
- Compressing a video for Discord5 minDiscord's free limit went to 20MB, but the rollout was uneven and some accounts still see 10MB. Here is how to pick a target that actually uploads.
- Compressing a video for Microsoft Teams5 minTeams advertises 250GB per file and caps a chat attachment at 100MB. Different routes, different limits -- and the interface pushes you to the small one.
- When GitHub says your file is too large6 minGitHub has three different size thresholds and states them in MiB, not MB. Which one you hit depends entirely on how you tried to add the file.
- H.264, H.265 and AV1 compared5 minAV1 beats H.265 which beats H.264 on efficiency. H.264 is still right for most files you hand to someone else, and the reason is compatibility.
- How to compress a video without losing quality5 minTruly lossless compression of an already-compressed video saves almost nothing. What you actually want is losing nothing you can see — and that is achievable.
- How to compress a video without uploading it6 minBrowsers can now encode video with your machine's own hardware. No upload, no queue, no copy on someone else's server — and usually faster than the alternative.
- Why free compressors add watermarks5 minWatermarks, daily caps and signup walls come from one place: every file you compress costs the operator money. Remove the server and the reason goes.
- How to send a large video by email5 minGmail says 25MB and means about 18MB. Outlook says 20MB and often means less. Here is why, and the four ways to actually get a video sent.
- MB vs MiB, and why your 25MB file is not 25MB5 min25MB means either 25,000,000 or 26,214,400 bytes depending on who is counting, and almost nobody says which. Here is how to be right either way.
- How to send a large video on WhatsApp4 minWhatsApp caps video at 16MB and re-compresses whatever you send. Sending as a document skips both — here is when to use which.
- What bitrate do you need for 1080p?5 min1080p needs about 2 Mbps to hold together and 4-5 Mbps to look good. Below the floor, 720p at the same bitrate looks better — here is where the line is.
- Why is my video file so big?6 minA 30-second clip can be 4MB or 400MB. The difference is bitrate, resolution, frame rate and length — and only one of them is worth changing first.
7 guides
Images
Hitting the small, specific sizes that application forms demand without making the photo unusable.
- Compressing a screenshot6 minScreenshots are PNGs of a huge display, which is why a picture of some text is bigger than a photograph. The fix is almost never a quality slider.
- Compressing an image without losing quality6 minTruly lossless image compression saves about 20%. Losing nothing you can actually see saves about 80% — and those are two completely different operations.
- DPI versus pixels, for uploads6 minA form asking for 300 DPI is asking for nothing, unless it also gives you a physical size. The number that actually exists in your file is the pixel count.
- JPEG, PNG and WebP, and when each one wins6 minThe right format depends on one question: does the image have large areas of flat colour, or is it a photograph? Getting it wrong costs a factor of ten.
- Resizing versus compressing an image5 minResizing removes pixels. Compressing describes each pixel less precisely. One is usually free and the other always costs something — so the order matters.
- Why is my phone photo so big?6 minA photo that was 1MB in 2016 is 5MB now, and the picture is not four times better. Resolution, HDR, HEIC and computational processing each took a share.
- Compressing a photo for an online form6 minExam, visa and job portals demand photos under 50KB, 100KB or 200KB with fixed dimensions. Here is how to hit the number without the photo becoming unusable.
7 guides
PDFs
Getting a document under a limit while keeping its text selectable, which most tools quietly do not.
- Compressing a scanned PDF6 minA scan has no text to protect, so the usual lossless pass saves almost nothing. What is left is a resolution decision — and there is a right way to make it.
- Compressing a PDF for an online form6 minPortals demand documents under 100KB, 200KB or 500KB and reject anything over without saying by how much. Here is how to hit the number and keep it readable.
- Compressing a PDF without Acrobat5 minAcrobat's "Reduce File Size" is three presets with no target field. Here is what those presets do, and how to get the same result without a subscription.
- Notion's 5MB upload limit5 minNotion's free plan rejects any file over 5MB, and its own help page gives three different numbers for paid plans. Here is what actually applies.
- When a PDF is too large to email5 minGmail says 25MB and means about 18MB. Outlook says 20MB and often means less. Here is why the published numbers lie, and what to do about a 40MB document.
- Why is my PDF so big?6 minA ten-page PDF can be 40KB or 40MB. Four things account for the difference, and which one is yours decides whether compressing costs you anything at all.
- Compressing a PDF without losing its text6 minMost PDF compressors flatten your pages into images, which silently ends search, copy-paste and screen reader access. A lossless pass should come first.
By platform
Platform limits
What each one advertises, what it actually enforces, and when we last checked.
- Discord20MBDiscord's free-tier upload limit is 20MB, raised from 10MB in August 2026. Nitro Basic is 50MB and Nitro is 500MB.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- WhatsApp16MBWhatsApp caps videos sent as media at 16MB. Sending the same file as a document skips compression and allows up to 2GB, but loses the preview and autoplay.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- Gmail18MBGmail's attachment limit is 25MB for sending and 50MB for receiving, but it measures the base64-encoded message. Keep the file itself under about 18MB.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- Outlook15MBOutlook.com caps attachments at 20MB. Exchange and Microsoft 365 limits are set per organisation and are often lower, so 15MB is the safe target.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- Notion5MBNotion's free plan rejects any file over 5MB. Paid plans raise that to 5GB per file, though the same page also lists caps of 20MB for PDFs and 5MB for images.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- Microsoft Teams100MBMicrosoft Teams caps a file attached to a chat message at 100MB, with at most 10 attachments per chat. A file uploaded to a team's Files tab goes to SharePoint instead and can be up to 250GB.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- GitHub25MBGitHub accepts files up to 25 MiB through the browser, warns above 50 MiB on a git push, and blocks anything over 100 MiB outright. Because those are MiB and not MB, a file under 25,000,000 bytes is always safe.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- Telegram2GBTelegram allows files up to 2GB, or 4GB with Telegram Premium. It is rarely the constraint that sends anyone looking for a compressor.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- Slack1GBSlack caps a single file at 1GB on every plan. Free workspaces have a total storage cap rather than a smaller per-file limit.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- Reddit1GBReddit accepts native video uploads up to 1GB and 15 minutes, though individual subreddits often impose shorter limits.Verified 26 Sep 2026
- YouTube256GBYouTube accepts videos up to 256GB or 12 hours, whichever is less. The limit that actually stops people is the 15-minute cap on unverified accounts, which phone verification removes.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- Google Drive5TBGoogle Drive stores individual files up to 5TB. The lower caps apply only to Google's own formats, on conversion: 50MB for Docs, 100MB for Sheets or Slides.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- Dropbox2TBDropbox accepts files up to 2TB on every plan, though a file still has to fit in the storage you have left. Uploads over 375GB in a web browser are documented as liable to time out.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- LinkedIn5GBLinkedIn accepts video posts up to 5GB and 15 minutes, and unusually it enforces a floor as well as a ceiling: a video file under 75KB is rejected outright.Verified 11 Oct 2026
- WeTransfer3GBWeTransfer's free plan allows up to 10 transfers or 3GB in any 30-day period, which makes 3GB the ceiling for a single free transfer as well as for the month. Paid plans go to 1TB per transfer.Verified 11 Oct 2026
By size
Video — compress to a set size
Each one opens the tool already set to that number.
Images — compress to a set size
The sizes exam, visa and job portals ask for.
PDFs — compress to a set size
Lossless is tried first at every one of these.