Compressing Video on Mac
has never been easier!
The most complete tutorial ever on How to Compress a Video on Mac. We provide multiple troubleshooting solutions here for Mac users.
Do you know how Big your various video file sizes are?
Most of our video files come from iPhones, screen recording, cameras, and Drone, etc. We looked at 2-minute video measurements from these devices. The result is shown below.
Why would we need to compress a video file?
To share on social media
While you are completing the requirements to share your video across any social media platform such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Vimeo, you may encounter issues with its upload due to video sizes.
Each social media channel limits the maximum video size that can be uploaded. So it is important to compress video for social media sharing.
To reduce memory usage
Videos from mobile phones, cameras, screen recordings, or websites are huge, which may exceed a limit and cause a problem for your memory. Under such circumstances where your video is large, you will have to compress them to reduce memory usage and save memory for more content.
Upload to Email for sending
Sending Emails is one of the ways we communicate on a daily basis, sometimes you may want to attach video files to your Email. However, the video size can not exceed 25MB, or you will have to compress it for sharing.
How to Compress a video on Mac?
Compress video on Mac for free
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Step 1
Launch VLC media player on your Mac. Proceed to the “File” tab and click on the "Convert/Stream" option.
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Step 2
Click on the option of "Open media…" to import the video file.
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Step 3
Select the appropriate Profile for compression or "Customize" it. Click on"Save" to compress the video with VLC.
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Step 1
Launch the video across QuickTime on Mac that you wish to compress.
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Step 2
Proceed to the "File" tab, followed by "Export As" from the drop-down menu to choose a file compression quality.
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Step 3
Set the name and location of the compressed file and click "Save" to compress the video with QuickTime.
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Step 1
Launch iMovie on Mac, tap on the "Create New" button to add a video file.
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Step 2
Click on the "Import Media" button to add the video file and drag it onto the timeline.
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Step 3
Proceed to the "Share" button and select the "Export File" option. Change the Quality, Resolution, and Compress Speed to reduce the video size . Now click "Next" followed by "Save" to compress video with iMovie.
The easiest way to reduce video size on Mac
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor and add video file(s).
Launch the Video Compressor of Wondershare UniConverter on Mac. Tab the + tab to add the video files or directly drag and drop the files.
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Step 2: Choose the compression percentage or file size.
You can compress the video size by reducing them to a percentage in terms of the original file size, just click the File Size drop-down options to select one. Or you can directly adjust the Bitrate to compress the video size: Click on the Settings icon to customize the Video Quality, Bitrate, Format, and Resolution.
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Step 3: Start compression.
Click the Start All button to reduce the video size. The video file(s) will be compressed in seconds.
UniConverter VS. Mac built-in Applications
Why do you need a third-party application to compress video
| Application | Import Format(Video) | Output Format(Video) | Batch Compression | Quality of Output Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UniConverter for Mac | 50+ | 50+ | √ | Up to 99% of original video |
| iMovie | MOV, MP4, 3GP, AVI, M4V | MP4, MOV, AVI, DV | x | Low, Medium, High, Best (ProRes), Custom |
| VLC | 10+ | 10+ | x | Medium |
| QuickTime | MOV, MP4, M4V | MOV | x | Medium |
While Mac built-in applications are free and open-source, they support very limited video formats and batch compression is
not supported. That's why you need a powerful third-party video compressor
for Mac like UniConverter.
How long does it take to compress a MOV video of 500MB[1280X720]
According to the experimental data, UniConverter has the fastest video compression speed among these applications. The GPU Acceleration of UniConverter speeds up the process of compression, so users can quickly get a better result when compressing a video.
UniConverter - Best Video Compressor for Mac
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Compress videos for social media sharing.
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Compress video for Email.
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Batch compress videos/pictures quickly.
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Compress DVDs.
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High-speed compression with GPU acceleration.
How to compress videos for Social Media on Mac
What you need to know before resizing videos for social media
Different social media channels support different maximum video file sizes for upload. You can see some highlighted social media platforms which support uploading videos in small sizes. So we have to reduce the video size for sharing according to the limits.
| Platforms | Supported Maximum Video File Size | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 128GB | 16:9 |
| Vimeo | 500 MB per week (basic plan users) | 16:9 |
| 4GB (1.75 GB maximum in Sprout) | 9:16(portrait), 2:3(Mobile renders) | |
| Instagram (Feed Video) | 4GB (*100MB maximum for Sprout direct publishing) | 16:9(Landscape), 1:1(square), 4:5(vertical) |
| 512MB | 16:9 (landscape/portrait), 1:1 (square) | |
| TikTok | 287.6MB | 9:16(recommended), 1:1(with letterboxing) |
| 5GB | 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 | |
| 2GB | 1:1 (square) or 2:3, 4:5 or 9:16 (vertical) | |
| 16MB | 4:3 (recommended) | |
| Discord | 8MB | 16:9 (recommended) |
| Skype | 300MB | No limits |
| Tumblr | 100MB | No limits |
| 1GB | No limits | |
| Snapchat | 2.5MB | 9:16 (recommended) |
| 20MB for Outlook and Zoho; 25MB for Gmail and Yahoo | No limits |
How to Compress Video for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Vimeo on Mac?
Solution:
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor of UniConverter on Mac PC.
Click the + File tab to add or drag video file(s) for compression. -
Step 2: Select the Output Format as YouTube, Facebook or Instagram, or Vimeo from the Web Video section. Now click the File Size to choose the percentage of compression to reduce your video size. Or tab the Settings and slide the bubble to change the compression ratio. And then select the Bitrate form for your video.
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Step 3: Click the Start All button to start compressing your video(s) for YouTube, Facebook or Instagram, or Vimeo.
How to Compress Video for WhatsApp?
Solution:
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor of UniConverter on Mac PC.
Click the + File tab to add or drag video file(s) for compression. -
Step 2: Select the Output Format that WhatsApp supports such as MP4 or MOV. Now click the File Size to choose a percentage that will reduce your video size to less than 16MB.
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Step 3: Click the Start All button to start compressing your video for WhatsApp.
How to Compress Video for Discord?
Solution:
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor of UniConverter on Mac PC.
Click the + File tab to add or drag video file(s) for compression. -
Step 2: Select the Output Format that Discord supports (MP4, WebM or MOV). Now click the File Size to choose a percentage that will reduce your video size to less than 8MB.
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Step 3: Click the Start All button to start compressing your video for Discord.
How to Compress a Video for Email?
Solution:
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor of UniConverter on Mac PC.
Click the + File tab to add or drag video file(s) for compression. -
Step 2: Select the Output Format that your Email supports. Now click the File Size to choose a percentage that will reduce your video size to less than 20MB(for Outlook and Zoho) or 25MB(for Gmail and Yahoo).
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Step 3: Click the Start All button to compress video for Email.
How to Compress Video for Twitter?
Solution:
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Step 1: Launch the Video Compressor of UniConverter on Mac PC.
Click the + File tab to add or drag video file(s) for compression. -
Step 2: Select the Output Format that Twitter supports. Now click the File Size to choose a percentage that will reduce your video size to less than 512MB.
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Step 3: Click the Start All button to compress video for Twitter.
