No items found.
Looking to get more out of your videos?
Try Riverside’s video editor.
Start for free
*No credit card needed. Free plan available.

How to make a video
file smaller

01

Adjust video compression settings

Change your compression settings if necessary. Choose the file size or video quality you’re after. Click “Apply Settings”.
02

Upload your video file

Drag and drop your file or upload a video to compress. 
The tool is compatible with MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WEBM, and most other popular video formats. Yοu can upload up to 1 GB per video file.
03

Download and share

Download your compressed video. Share easily on Discord, YouTube, WhatsApp, TikTok, or via email 
and much more.

Why use Riverside’s video compressor?

Lossless

Shrink your videos without shrinking your standards. Reduce the size of your MP4 videos without losing quality.

Easy to use

All it takes is a few easy clicks to minimize video files to the size and quality of your choice.

Free

Our free online media compressor reduces your video size at no cost.

Fast

It takes a few seconds or minutes 
to compress large files.
“We always get high-quality video and audio"
Mina Sabet | Head of Production
“We use Riverside
to record everything”
Jill Du Boff | Director of Audio
“We decided that it
was the best product”
Colten Becker | Comm Services Engineer
“It works beautifully
‍in our workflow”
Rob Goodman | Executive Producer

Compressing video
online made easy for:

Creators resizing videos for social media

Share your high-end videos on social media platforms like Discord, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube. Minimize video file size with our online compressor for fast uploads and high-quality playbacks.

Marketing teams after fast-loading videos

Don’t let big video files clog up site speed. Make your videos match social media, website, or your dev team specs. Condense your video files seamlessly with our free online compressor.

Business teams sharing videos smoothly

Whether you’re uploading to your drive, attaching to a quick email, or sending a video message to a colleague—compress your videos for uncomplicated, faster sharing every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

What is a video compressor and how does it work?

A video compressor is software that reduces the file size of a video. It can do this using two methods:

  • Lossy compression removes data from the video file to reduce its size.
  • Lossless compression retains all data, preserving the original quality.

If you want to compress video without sacrificing quality, try our lossless video file compressor above.

How do I compress a video without compromising quality?

There are four ways to make a video file smaller without compromising quality:

  • Use an adjustable online video compressor: With Riverside’s free compressor, you can control compression settings to ensure minimal quality loss.
  • Zip your video files: When you zip files, you compress them temporarily into one folder. Whoever opens your zipped files will unzip them into their original format and quality.
  • Trim your video: Cut out any unwanted footage to reduce the length and size of your video. (You can do this as easily as deleting text with our text-based editor.)
  • Change your video file format: Some video file formats (like MP4) use up less space than others. 

Check out our full guide on how to compress videos without losing quality.

Does compression reduce video quality?

Media compression can reduce your video’s quality, but it all depends on the compression type you choose. 

Simply put, this process is run through a technology called a codec. Codecs use an algorithm to compress a video and then decompress it into a new video format.

Some codecs are lossless and perform compression without heavily affecting your video’s quality or removing data. Instead, they reconstruct the data to make the file smaller.

Lossless compression can’t reduce a video file’s size as much as lossy compression can. With lossy compression, videos can be lessened into much smaller file sizes, but you may lose data or decrease the quality of your video

What is the difference between H.264 and H.265?

H.264 and H.265 are different codec standards for MP4 compression. In short, H.265 uses more advanced technology and compresses more efficiently without losing video quality.

The main difference is that H.264 compresses using macroblocks, whereas H.265 compresses using coding tree units.

This means that H.264 only works with a maximum of 16x16 pixel blocks when compressing a video. H.265 divides the picture into different coding units, working with higher pixel blocks.

Read our guide for more information on codec and video file formats.

What is the best video compressor?

The best online video compressors (or “video file shrinkers”) are:

  • Fast
  • Easy to use
  • Secure and 
  • Enable you to compress video without drastically losing quality. 

Riverside ticks all these boxes, so we suggest it as your best option for video compression online.

Check out our comprehensive list of best video compressors.

How do I compress an MP4 file?

You can compress an MP4 file just like any other video file. It involves reducing its bitrate, which decreases the file size while balancing the trade-off between storage efficiency and video quality.

Riverside’s video compression tool doubles down as an MP4 compressor. 

Follow these steps to compress an MP4 file:

  1. Adjust your compression settings and choose the compression method you prefer. If you want to preserve resolution, then compress video by targeting video quality. 
  2. Upload your MP4 video to the video compression tool.
  3. Compress your MP4 video file.
  4. Download your compressed MP4 video.

Read our full guide to learn how to compress videos.

How do I compress video for Discord?

Discord has a maximum file upload limit of 8MB for free accounts. If you have Discord Nitro, the upload limit increases to 50MB per file. 

To share larger files on the platform, you need to to reduce the size of the video first. 

To shrink your Discord video files you must:

  1. Choose a video compressor for Discord. For example, Riverside’s free video compressor can reduce your Discord video size to 8MB.
  2. Upload your Discord video to your compressor.
  3. Set your targeted video file size to 8MB.
  4. Download and share your video on Discord.

Is Riverside’s free video file reducer tool secure and anonymous?

Yes, condensing a video with our tool is 100% secure. All communications are performed via secure, encrypted channels.

Your video files are fully protected and remain anonymous. Only you have access to them throughout the compression process.

Plus, after you download your file, we delete it from our servers to protect your privacy.

A free video compressor for any Windows or iOS device.

Compress your video from your desktop computer or mobile device (iOS or Android).
Compress now

Other Riverside tools

Discover free and paid tools on Riverside.
Browse all tools