How to compress a video for email

Step by step

1. Check the limit. Gmail allows attachments of about 25 MB and Outlook.com about 20 MB. Aim a little below the limit, because the email itself adds a little.
2. Add your video. Open Compress Video and press Select a video, or drop the file on the page.
3. Type the size. In Make it under (MB), type the size you need, or press one of the 10, 16, 25 or 50 MB buttons.
4. Compress and save. Press Compress video, check the result and its size, then save the MP4 and attach it to your email.

Why are phone videos so big?

A phone records at a very high quality so that it looks good on a big screen. A minute of video can take well over 100 MB, which is far more than an email allows. For watching on a phone or a laptop, a much smaller file looks nearly the same.

Why does the length of the video matter?

File size is roughly the bitrate multiplied by the length. Bitrate is how much data each second of video gets. If the size is fixed, a longer video leaves less data for every second, so the picture gets softer.

A 20 second clip squeezed under 25 MB can look sharp. A 10 minute video squeezed under the same 25 MB will look soft and blocky, because each second gets very little. If the picture matters, make the video shorter before you compress it.

What does PlumPDF do for you?

Compress Video makes the choices that are hard to do by hand:

• You type the size in MB and it makes an MP4 under it.
• It keeps the sound.
• It picks the sharpest picture size that fits in your limit.
• If the first try ends up over your size, it tries again with less data until it fits.
• Everything happens in your browser, so the video is never uploaded.

Tips for a better result

A few small steps help a lot, especially for a longer video:

• Trim first. Cut off the start and the end that nobody needs, so every second left gets more data.
• Or split a long video into two parts and send them in two emails.
• Going from 1080p to 720p is fine on a phone screen, and it saves a lot of space. The tool does this on its own when your size is small.
• Do not ask for a tiny size if you can avoid it. Use the biggest size your email allows.

What if I only need the sound?

For a voice note, a talk or a song, you do not need the picture at all. Use Video to MP3 to save only the audio. It is much smaller than the video, and it usually fits in an email with room to spare.

Honest limits

Compressing always costs some detail. A long video at a small size will look soft, and fast motion or a dark room makes it worse. Watch the result before you send it, and keep the original. A very long video may take a while to process on a phone, so keep the tab open until it finishes.

Questions