Compress video for WhatsApp
WhatsApp Status caps videos at 16 MB and 30 seconds. WhatsApp chats cap around 100 MB. Drop your video here, pick a target, and the tool calculates the bitrate to land just under it. Nothing uploads.
drop a video here
or click to choose
WhatsApp video limits, decoded
- Status videos: 16 MB cap, 30 seconds max.
- Personal chat (most regions, 2023+): ~100 MB.
- Group chat: varies — many groups still cap at 16 MB. Test with a small file.
- Business accounts: sometimes higher, sometimes lower depending on the business plan.
WhatsApp also re-encodes everything you send. If your source is too large to ingest, the send fails silently. Pre-compressing to the right size makes the send predictable.
Trim to 30 seconds for Status
Status videos must be 30 seconds or less. If your clip is longer, use our trim tool first, then come back here.
How we hit the target
We compute the required bitrate from your video's duration and the target MB:
video_kbps = (target_MB × 8000 × 0.92 / duration_seconds) - audio_kbps
The 0.92 safety margin accounts for container overhead and encoder variance. Audio defaults to 96 kbps AAC for the 16 MB target, 128 kbps for larger.
For 16 MB Status clips, pick 480p or 720p
At 30 seconds and 16 MB, your total bitrate budget is roughly 4.5 Mbps. 720p H.264 at 4 Mbps looks sharp. 1080p at the same bitrate looks soft; the encoder doesn't have enough bits per pixel. Drop to 720p for clean output.
Privacy — pertinent for personal video
WhatsApp video is by definition personal: family moments, voice notes, things you wouldn't send to a stranger. Online compressor sites upload your file to their server before processing. Here, the file stays on your phone or laptop. Load the page once, turn off mobile data, and you can still compress.
FAQ
Why does my Status fail to upload even after compressing?
WhatsApp also enforces 30 seconds for Status. Trim first.
Will WhatsApp re-compress my video again after I send it?
Yes — that's why the input has to be small enough to pass the upload check. After that, WhatsApp's own encoder takes over.
Does this work on iPhone Safari?
Yes. Pick a video from Photos, compress, then save to Files or share straight into WhatsApp.
The output is bigger than 16 MB. Why?
If we can't probe duration accurately we fall back to a conservative bitrate estimate. Re-run with the next-smaller resolution if the first attempt overshoots.
Does the file get uploaded anywhere?
No. Pull the network plug after the page loads — conversion still works.