Video target
Compress video to 16MB
WhatsApp caps uploads at 16MB, so that is the number your file has to come in under. Drop a video below and it will be compressed to fit on your own machine -- nothing is uploaded, there is no watermark, and the size is verified by measuring the output rather than by estimating it.
2Add your file
Video, images and PDFs, all compressed on your own machine. No upload, no account, no watermark, no limit on how many files.
The same tool takes video, images and PDFs, at this size or any other.
Who enforces it
What uses a 16MB limit
Mechanism
How this works
Four steps, one of which nobody else does.
- 01
Your browser reads the file
Length, resolution, frame rate and bitrate come out of the container in a fraction of a second. Nothing is decoded and nothing is sent anywhere.
- 02
We work out what fits 16MB
Subtract what the audio needs, divide the rest by the duration, and drop the resolution if the remaining bitrate is too low to still look like video.
- 03
Your own hardware encoder runs
The same silicon your phone uses to record video, reached through WebCodecs. This is the part that would otherwise be an upload and a queue.
- 04
We measure the output
If it came in over 16MB, the bitrate is corrected by the observed error and it encodes again. This is the step almost every other tool skips.
Questions
Compressing video to 16MB
- How do I compress a video to 16MB?
- Drop the file into the tool on this page -- the target is already set to 16MB. The work happens in your browser on your own machine, so there is no upload, no queue and no account. The output is measured before you are given it, so it is genuinely under 16MB.
- Is that exactly 16MB, or approximately 16MB?
- Under it, and verified. The byte count of the finished file is measured and compared against the limit before anything is handed back, and if it came in over, it is done again. 16MB here means 16 decimal megabytes -- 16,000,000 bytes -- which is the smaller of the two readings a platform might intend, so it clears either.
- Will a long video still fit in 16MB?
- Up to a point, and you are told before spending the time. The budget is divided by the duration, so a longer clip gets a lower bitrate and the resolution steps down to match -- 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, then 240p. If not even 240p fits, the page tells you how short the clip would have to be instead of handing you something unwatchable.
- Does it put a watermark on the video?
- No, and it never will. Compression runs on your own hardware, which costs us nothing per file, so there is nothing to ration and no paid tier to push you toward. No watermark, no signup, no daily cap.
Nearby
Other sizes
Landed on the wrong number? The right one is one click away.
Other files
Not what you were holding?
Each family reaches your number a different way, because each has a different dial to turn.
Background
Worth reading first
The arithmetic behind the number, and what to do when it will not fit.
- Why free compressors add watermarksWatermarks, 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 on WhatsAppWhatsApp caps video at 16MB and re-compresses whatever you send. Sending as a document skips both — here is when to use which.
- Why is my video file so big?A 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.