Add your file from your device.
01Video & Streaming toolVideo or media file
Video Compressor
Shrink any video in your browser — pick a quality level or a size to fit.
100% FreeBrowser-basedNo watermark
- 1UploadAdd your file from your device.
- 2Choose optionsPick the output settings you need.
- 3ProcessRun the tool in your browser.
Private by designProcessed on your device where possible.
Works on any deviceDesktop, tablet and mobile browsers.
No installationOpen the page and start working.
Always free coreUse the free plan for everyday tasks.
How to use Video Compressor
Pick the output settings you need.
02Run the tool in your browser.
03Save the finished result.
04Your files stay private
Your work is processed locally in your browser where possible and is never added to a Vootkit upload library.
Learn more about privacyPhones record at bitrates built for editing, not for sending — which is why a two-minute clip off a modern handset can land somewhere north of 300 MB and bounce off every upload box you try it in. Compressing it is mostly a matter of re-encoding at a sane bitrate, and the video looks near enough identical afterwards. This does that in the browser, on your own machine.
What Video Compressor does
Two ways to ask for it. A quality level — Light, Balanced or Strong — just makes the file smaller with no target in mind, which is what most people want. Or a size target, when something has to clear a hard limit like a 25 MB email attachment.
Quality levels encode at a constant rate factor, so the bitrate rises and falls with how demanding the footage is: a static screen recording is not charged for motion it does not have, and a hand-held shot is not starved. Size targets work backwards from the number instead, computing the one bitrate that lands inside it.
Either way the output is capped below the source’s own bitrate, so compressing never returns a bigger file than it was given. If you pick a size target the file is already under, it is handed straight back untouched rather than being re-encoded for nothing.
Levels, targets and limits
| Light | CRF 23, capped at 80% of the source bitrate |
|---|---|
| Balanced (default) | CRF 27, capped at 55% |
| Strong | CRF 31, capped at 35%, frame capped at 720p |
| Size targets | 10, 25, 50, 100 or 500 MB |
| Audio options | 96, 128 (default) or 192 kbps, never above the source |
| Encoding | Balanced, or Faster (about 1.4× quicker, slightly softer) |
| Maximum input | 2 GB |
| Maximum length | 30 minutes |
| Input formats | MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM and most others |
| Output | MP4 (H.264 + AAC), constant frame rate |
Detailed steps
- Drop the video in. Nothing is uploaded — the file is read straight off your disk by the encoder running in the page.
- Pick a Compression level. Balanced is the sensible default; choose a Fit option instead if you have a specific limit to clear.
- Set Audio quality if you care. 128 kbps is fine for speech and most music; 96 buys back a little room on a tight target.
- Choose Encoding — Balanced, or Faster if the wait matters more than the last few percent of sharpness.
Worth knowing
Trim before you compress. File size is bitrate times duration, so cutting ten seconds of dead air off the front removes that share of the file at full quality rather than smearing the rest to pay for it. On a clip that is close to a limit it is often the whole gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much smaller will my file get?
It depends far more on the source than on the setting. Footage straight off a phone or a camera is usually encoded very generously and routinely drops by 70–90% at Balanced with no visible difference. Something already compressed once — a download, a clip that has been through a messaging app — has much less slack, and may only give up a third. The result screen shows the actual percentage rather than a promise.
Which level should I pick?
Balanced unless you have a reason. Light is for footage you intend to edit or archive, where you want the file smaller but nothing thrown away. Strong is for when small matters more than sharp — it also caps the frame at 720p, because at that bitrate a smaller frame genuinely looks better than a large one starved of data, and it encodes considerably faster.
Can it make my file bigger?
No. Every level carries a hard ceiling set as a fraction of the source’s own bitrate, and the audio track is never re-encoded above the rate it already had. Both exist because an earlier version could inflate an efficiently-encoded clip by a few percent while claiming to compress it.
Why did the resolution change?
Either you chose Strong, which caps the frame at 720p, or the bitrate needed to hit a size target could not carry the original frame size. Spreading the available bits over fewer pixels looks better than the alternative and finishes sooner. The result stats always show the resolution actually used.
Why is it slow?
The encode runs on your own processor rather than a server, so a long or high-resolution clip takes real time — this is the trade for the file never leaving your machine. The progress bar shows a live percentage and a time estimate that adapts to your hardware. Choosing Faster trades a little sharpness for about 1.4× the speed.
Is there a size limit?
Files up to 2 GB are accepted, because the encoder reads the video off disk rather than copying it into memory first. The binding limits in practice are length and frame size: clips over 30 minutes or above 4K are refused, because in-browser encoding at that scale takes longer than anyone will wait. Split a long recording with the trimmer and compress the pieces.
Is Video Compressor free?
Yes. The Vootkit free plan includes 5 tool runs a day. Upgrade to Vootkit Pro for unlimited daily use, an ad-free workspace and saved workflows.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Video Compressor runs entirely in your browser — your file is processed on your own device and never sent to a server. There is nothing for us to store or delete.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Video Compressor works in any modern browser on desktop, tablet or phone. Open the page and start.
How often can I use it? Is there a daily limit?
On the free plan you get 5 tool runs a day. When you reach the limit you'll see a prompt to upgrade, and it resets the next day. Vootkit Pro removes the cap entirely for unlimited daily use.
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Your video is processed entirely in your browser. The video engine downloads once from a CDN the first time you run a tool, then works from cache. Large files are memory-bound, so keep clips reasonable.