Compress Video for WhatsApp Chats and Status

Compress video for WhatsApp in four steps

1. On a computer, choose the video above: MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM or MKV.
2. Keep "Under 64 MB" if you aren't sure about the connection, pick "Under 100 MB" on a fast one, or type any size into "Or a size in MB".
3. Read the plan readout, which shows the resolution, bitrate and expected size, then press "Compress video" and leave the tab open.
4. Download the MP4 and send it from WhatsApp Web or the desktop app, or copy it to your phone and send it from there.

WhatsApp's video limits

These come from WhatsApp's help center article on sending media, checked in October 2026:

Chat video, faster connection

100 MB, 720p by default

Chat video, slower connection

64 MB, 480p by default

Status video

90 seconds at most; HD media isn't available for Status

Video sent as a document

up to 2 GB

Formats WhatsApp lists for video

3GP, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, MP4

The size limit depends on your connection at the moment you send, which you can't always predict on mobile data. 64 MB is the figure that works on both, so it is the default here. The presets sit a few megabytes under each limit, because the encoder can overshoot on busy scenes and the planner keeps a small margin for that.

What about the 16 MB limit?

A 16 MB WhatsApp limit is repeated across the web, but WhatsApp's current help page doesn't state it; the documented defaults are 64 and 100 MB. The 16 MB chip is there for the cases where something else still enforces it, such as a business messaging system or a form that only accepts files under 16 MB. For an ordinary chat, compressing that hard throws quality away for nothing.

720p is WhatsApp's chat default

WhatsApp gives 720p as the default resolution for chat videos on faster connections and 480p on slower ones. So a 1080p file sent as an ordinary chat video doesn't usually get its full resolution across by default, and spending your size budget on 720p gives a cleaner picture at the size the recipient will typically see. If you want that, scale the video down first with change video resolution, then compress it.

Longer than that and the budget gets thin. A 30-minute recording can't look good under 64 MB at any resolution, which is where the document route comes in.

Send it as a document to keep the quality

WhatsApp's Document option takes files up to 2 GB, including videos. The file goes across as a file, so the recipient gets your video as it is instead of a chat video sized to WhatsApp's defaults. The trade-offs:

• It arrives as an attachment to download and open, not a video that plays straight in the chat.
• The recipient downloads the full size, which matters on a mobile data plan.
• It is the way to share an original recording, for example wedding footage or a client deliverable, without compressing it at all.

If a file is too big even for that, cut it into parts with trim video and send each part.

Status videos

A Status video can be at most 90 seconds long, and HD media isn't available for Status. Trim the video to the 90 seconds you want first; fast mode copies the part you keep without re-encoding, so it takes seconds. Status fills a phone screen in portrait, so a landscape clip looks small there. The horizontal to vertical converter crops a 9:16 window or fits the whole frame onto a blurred background before you compress.

Doing it on a phone

The compressor re-encodes the video with the browser's WebCodecs encoder, which needs current Chrome or Edge, Safari 16.4 or later, or Firefox 130 or later on a computer. The video is read and compressed inside the browser tab and is not uploaded anywhere. If you only have your phone, sending as a document avoids compressing at all; otherwise move the file to a computer, compress it there and send it from WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.

The background on why a size target lowers the resolution and frame rate is on the main video compressor page.

Videos and voice notes in other languages

If a video someone sent you is in a language you don't speak, the video translator can add translated subtitles or a dubbed voice; for that AI step only the audio track is uploaded. For voice notes rather than videos, see WhatsApp voice message to text.