Compress Video for Discord's Upload Limit

Compress video for Discord in four steps

1. Choose the clip above: MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM or MKV, including recordings straight out of OBS.
2. Keep the 10 MB chip for a free account, pick 19 MB if your app takes 20 MB files, 50 MB for Nitro Basic or 500 MB for Nitro, or type a number into "Or a size in MB" (95 for a Level 3 boosted server).
3. Read the plan readout, which shows the resolution, video bitrate and expected size, then press "Compress video" and keep the tab open.
4. Download the MP4 and drop it into the channel or DM as usual. If the result card says the file overshot, press "Try again 20% smaller" first.

Discord's file size limits, from Discord's own pages

Discord's help center doesn't give one answer at the moment. Its File Attachments FAQ says the free limit went up from 10 MB to 20 MB in August 2026, while its Account Caps table still lists the older figures. Both pages were checked in October 2026:

Free account, File Attachments FAQ

20 MB per file, raised from 10 MB in August 2026

Free account, Account Caps table

10 MB

Nitro Basic

50 MB on both pages

Nitro, File Attachments FAQ in English

up to 1 GB

Nitro, Account Caps table

500 MB

Server boost Level 2

50 MB for every member of that server

Server boost Level 3

100 MB for every member of that server

The FAQ adds that Discord is experimenting with upload limits and that some users may be able to send larger files. The practical rule: the limit your own app enforces is the one that counts. If you have already sent a 15 MB file from a free account, you are on the 20 MB limit; if anything over 10 MB bounces, you aren't.

Which preset to choose

The 10 MB default fits under every free figure Discord publishes, so it is the choice when you don't know which limit applies, or when you are sending to several servers. It costs quality, though, because the bitrate is the target divided by the length: double the target and every second gets twice the data. When you know your account takes 20 MB, use the 19 MB chip rather than typing 20. The compressor already aims a little under the number you give, and the spare megabyte covers any difference in how Discord counts a megabyte.

Gameplay clips and 60 fps

Games are hard material for a compressor: fast camera turns, particles and grass change nearly every pixel in every frame. Discord-sized budgets are small, so two things usually happen to a 1080p60 recording on a free account. The planner lowers 60 fps to 30 fps, which gives each remaining frame twice the data, and then steps the resolution down until the picture stops breaking into blocks. The plan readout states both changes before you press anything.

The most effective fix is length, not settings. Cut the clip to the moment that matters with trim video and every second you remove hands its share of the budget to the seconds you keep. A 15-second play compressed to 10 MB looks far better than the same play buried in a minute of lobby footage. If you want to choose the frame rate yourself, change video frame rate sets 30, 25 or another value before you compress.

OBS often records to MKV. You don't need to remux it first: the tool opens MKV directly and saves an MP4.

Discord now checks the size before its own compression

Discord's FAQ explains a second change from August 2026: the mobile apps used to try compressing a file first and only then check it against the limit, and now they check the original file, as the desktop app always has. A phone video over the limit is therefore refused even if Discord could once have squeezed it in. The FAQ says Android users may run into the limit more often than before, because their source files tend to be larger. Compressing the clip here before you open Discord means the file you attach is already under the line.

When compressing isn't the answer

A size limit is really a time limit. Ten minutes in 10 MB leaves about 120 kbps for everything, and the planner bottoms out at 240p; much longer and it warns that the target is too small to be watchable. For longer videos, upload to a video host and paste the link in the channel, use a boosted server's higher limit, or split the video into parts with the trimmer. The general video compressor explains the bitrate arithmetic in more detail.

A few related jobs come up when sharing clips:

• Removing your voice chat or game sound before posting: mute video drops the sound track and copies the picture, so it takes seconds.
• Short reaction loops: a video to GIF conversion works for a few seconds, but GIFs are large by nature, and an MP4 of the same moment is usually smaller.
• Captions for people watching with the sound off: the free subtitle editor burns text into the picture. Rendering creates a new MP4, so compress it after that, not before.

The compressor runs in your browser tab; the clip is not uploaded anywhere.