Compress video

About this tool

Shrink a video without uploading it. Choose a preset, drag the quality slider, or set a target size such as 8 MB or 25 MB for e-mail and chat limits, and Love Video re-encodes the video with H.264 right in your browser. You decide how much to compress, and you see the new size before you save.

Because nothing is uploaded, there are no queues and no server limits, but your own device does the work, so large videos take time. The tool shows an estimate, tells you when a file is likely to be slow, and lets you cancel at any moment.

The four presets

Each preset sets a resolution limit and an x264 quality value called CRF. A lower CRF keeps more detail and makes a bigger file; roughly every six steps up halves the bitrate. Videos are never enlarged: a preset only reduces a resolution that is higher than its limit.

• High: up to 1080p, CRF 23. Looks very close to the original while still saving space on high-bitrate phone footage.
• Balanced: up to 720p, CRF 28. The default: a large saving that still looks good on a phone or laptop.
• Small: up to 480p, CRF 31. For quick shares and messaging where size matters most.
• Tiny: up to 360p, CRF 34. The smallest files, visibly softer, for previews or very tight limits.

Compress to a target size

When a service has a hard limit, switch to Target size and enter the number of megabytes. Love Video reads the video’s length, subtracts the space the audio needs and sets the video bitrate to fit the rest. The encoder follows the bitrate closely but not perfectly, so the final file is usually within about ten percent of your target. Leave a little margin below a strict limit, for example aim for 22 MB when the limit is 25 MB.

If the target is very small for the length of the video, the tool warns you that the picture will be blurry and suggests a lower resolution, which usually looks better than a high resolution starved of bits.

What happens to the file

The output is always an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, which plays on almost every phone, computer and TV. Metadata such as GPS location and camera information is not copied. Audio can be kept at a normal quality, reduced to save a little more space, or removed entirely.

A link works too: paste the address of a video, and Love Video’s server scans it like the main downloader does, then your browser fetches the video through our server and compresses it locally. Video results in the downloader also have a Compress shortcut that opens this tool with the file already chosen.

Limits and tips

• Video files up to about 1 GB work on most desktop computers, with a warning above 300 MB. On phones and tablets the limit is about 300 MB, and compression there is much slower.
• Encoding runs on a single processor thread, which is why the site needs no special security settings. It is slower than desktop software, and the tool shows its progress and estimated time as it works.
• Keep the tab open and the screen awake. Where the browser allows it the tool asks the screen to stay on, but closing the tab cancels the job.
• Some videos are already heavily compressed. If the result is not smaller, the tool says so; try a lower quality, a smaller preset or a lower resolution.
• HDR or 10-bit videos, such as some iPhone clips, are converted to standard 8-bit video without colour mapping, so colours may look flatter.
• The first run downloads the conversion engine (about 10 MB compressed) and keeps it in your browser’s cache.