How to compress a video for Discord
- Leave “Discord 20 MB” selected, or pick “Discord Nitro Basic 50 MB” if you have it.
- Drop your clip in. The gauge shows how far over the limit it is and what quality to expect.
- Press “Compress to 20 MB”, save the new file and upload it to your channel.
Discord’s upload limits
| Where | Limit | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Discord (free) | 20 MB per file | Oct 2026 |
| Discord Nitro Basic / Nitro | 50 MB / 500 MB | Oct 2026 |
| WhatsApp (sent as a video) | 16 MB | Oct 2026 |
| WhatsApp (sent as a document) | 2 GB, no preview | Oct 2026 |
| Gmail attachment | 25 MB | Oct 2026 |
Discord has changed its free limit several times: 8 MB for years, 25 MB in 2023, 10 MB in late 2024, and 20 MB today. The preset here always matches the current figure.
Why your clip is too big
Game captures and phone videos are recorded at high bitrates so they look perfect while editing. A one-minute 1080p clip at 60 frames per second is often 100–200 MB. Discord doesn’t need that much data to show it well, so we re-encode it at the exact bitrate that lands just under the limit.
Tips for better-looking clips
- Keep it short. The limit is about size, so a 20-second clip gets three times the quality of a one-minute clip.
- Remove the sound if it doesn’t matter. That frees up room for the picture.
- Let it scale down. For long clips we automatically drop to 720p, which looks sharper at a small size than a blocky 1080p.
Questions
Will the compressed video play in Discord’s preview?
Yes. The output is an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC sound, which Discord previews inline on desktop and mobile.
Why is my video “too long for this size”?
Below a certain bitrate the picture becomes unwatchable. Very long videos can’t fit 20 MB at a usable quality, so trim the clip or choose a larger limit.
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. The tool runs inside your browser and uses your device’s own video encoder. Your file is read from your device, processed there and saved back. You can confirm this in your browser’s network panel: nothing is sent while a video is processed.
Which browsers does it work in?
It works best in Chrome and Edge on a computer. It needs a browser feature called WebCodecs. If your browser doesn’t have it, the page tells you before you start.