WhatsApp caps videos at 16 MB and compresses whatever you send. Get under the limit yourself first and you decide where the quality goes — all in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Quick answer: Open the Convertlo video compressor with the WhatsApp preset, add your clip and press Compress to size. WhatsApp's limit is 16 MB for a video sent as media. Need more? Send it as a document instead — that allows up to 2 GB and the file is not re-compressed at all.
Compress your clip for WhatsApp Nothing uploaded · no watermark · no signup
WhatsApp applies a 16 MB cap to anything sent as a video in the chat. The same file attached as a document can be up to 2 GB and is transferred untouched — no re-compression at all. That is the escape hatch when quality matters more than an inline preview.
How you send it
Limit
What the recipient gets
As video
16 MB
Plays inline, re-compressed by WhatsApp
As document
2 GB
Downloads the exact file, untouched
How much video fits in 16 MB
Worked out from the bitrate budget the compressor actually uses. "Looks good" holds up on ordinary footage; "still watchable" goes soft on fast motion but is fine for a clip in a chat.
Resolution
Looks good up to
Still watchable up to
1080p
38 sec
1:03
720p
1:23
2:11
480p
2:50
4:14
The useful trick here: get under 16 MB yourself and WhatsApp has far less reason to mangle it. A file that arrives already small is passed through much closer to how you sent it than one it has to squeeze on your behalf.
Pick 720p unless you need more — the table above shows what fits at each size.
Compress, download, and send it as a normal video. It is verified to be under 16 MB.
Frequently Asked Questions
16 MB when you send a video as media, in the chat, on every platform. That works out to roughly 90 seconds to 3 minutes depending on resolution. Sending the same file as a document instead raises the ceiling to 2 GB, but the recipient gets a file to download rather than a video that plays inline.
About 38 seconds at 1080p, 1 minute 23 at 720p, or 2 minutes 50 at 480p before quality starts to suffer. For a phone clip going to a chat, 720p is almost always the right trade — it is what WhatsApp would downscale to anyway.
Because WhatsApp compresses it for you, with no control over the settings, and it is aggressive. Compressing first at a resolution you choose means you decide where the quality goes rather than letting the app decide. A file already under 16 MB is left much closer to how you sent it.
Attach it as a document rather than as media — the limit jumps to 2 GB and the file is sent untouched. The trade-off is that it will not preview or autoplay in the chat, and the recipient has to download it.
No. Everything happens in your browser using your device's own video encoder, so the clip never leaves your phone or computer.