How to make a video small enough to send
First cut the video to the part that matters, then send it the way the app allows the most. WhatsApp takes videos up to 16 MB as media and shrinks them, but up to 2 GB when you send them as a document; Discord's free plan takes 20 MB per file and Gmail 25 MB of attachments. Cutting without re-encoding keeps the quality and makes the file smaller in proportion. Fitting a long video into a few MB needs re-encoding at a lower resolution.
The limits
| Where you send it | Largest file | What happens to it |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp, as a photo or video | About 16 MB | Re-encoded, often to 720p or lower |
| WhatsApp, as a document | 2 GB | Arrives as it was |
| Discord, free | 20 MB per file | Arrives as it was |
| Discord Nitro Basic / Nitro | 50 MB / 500 MB | Arrives as it was |
| Gmail | 25 MB of attachments | Bigger files go as a Google Drive link |
How much video fits
A video’s size grows with its length. Look at your file: a 30-second clip of 60 MB uses 2 MB per second, so 16 MB holds 8 seconds of it and 25 MB about 12 seconds. A clip from a phone in 4K uses several times more per second than the same clip in 1080p.
1. Cut it to the part that matters
Most videos people send are longer than the moment they want to show. Open the video in the video trimmer, set the start and end, and download the clip. The part you keep is copied without re-encoding, so the quality stays exactly the same and it takes seconds. The trimmer works in your browser, so the video isn’t uploaded; the clip keeps the video’s recording date and leaves out its location.
Leave a second or two either side of the moment, so nothing is cut off.
2. Send it as a document or a link
If the app allows it, this keeps the full quality:
- WhatsApp: tap the paperclip, then Document, and pick the video. It can be up to 2 GB and isn’t compressed.
- Email: Gmail turns attachments over 25 MB into a Google Drive link; other services offer something similar.
- Discord: without Nitro, a link to the file in cloud storage avoids the 20 MB limit.
3. Shrink it by re-encoding
When the video has to be both long and small, it has to be re-encoded: a lower resolution (1080p instead of 4K, or 720p) and a lower bitrate. That loses some detail, so keep the original. A free desktop app such as HandBrake does it; tuul’s own video compressor, which will run in the browser like the other tools, is on its way.
If the app refuses the file
Some apps and sites take only MP4. A .mov from an iPhone, an .mkv or an .avi can be rewrapped as MP4 in seconds without losing quality, with MOV to MP4 and its sibling pages. That changes the format, not the size.
Sources
- Fast.io: WhatsApp file size limit: 16 MB for photos and videos, 2 GB for documents, and how gallery videos are compressed.
- Infobae: WhatsApp increases the size of documents to 2 GB.
- Dexerto: Discord raises its free upload limit to 20 MB (August 2026), with the Nitro limits.
- Gmail Help: attachment size limits: 25 MB.
- HandBrake, the free video converter.
Questions
What's the largest video I can send on WhatsApp?
Sent as a photo or video, about 16 MB, and WhatsApp compresses it. Sent as a document (the paperclip, then Document), up to 2 GB, and the file arrives exactly as it was.
Why does WhatsApp make my video blurry?
Videos sent from the gallery are re-encoded to save data, often down to 720p or lower. Send the video as a document instead, and it isn't touched.
What is Discord's file size limit?
20 MB per file on the free plan, since August 2026. Nitro Basic allows 50 MB and Nitro 500 MB.
Does cutting a video make it lose quality?
Not when it's cut without re-encoding. tuul's video trimmer copies the part you keep as it is, so the picture is identical; only the length, and so the size, goes down.