It's not a surprise that the largest files on your Mac are probably your videos. So, whether you're running out of space on your hard drive or you're trying to send a movie that's too large, compressing videos is a great way to reduce their file size. And with no shortage of options, figuring out where to start with it all can feel overwhelming.
Even if you have never compressed a video before, you can quickly put your file in the corresponding field and compress it. Beware that this free video compression software can compress only files with a size up to 500MB. All the settings are perfectly adjusted so you can resize any clip before uploading it on YouTube in a few simple steps.
- Arguably the most popular compressor, Handbrake has been around for years. And it's popular for a reason. It's a simple, free video compressor for a Mac. Once you have Handbrake downloaded and installed in your Applications folder, you can follow these steps to compress a video: Open Handbrake. In the popup window, navigate to your video.
- Compressor integrates tightly with Final Cut Pro and Motion to add power and flexibility to your video conversions. Quickly customize output settings, enhance images, and package your film for sale on the iTunes Store. For even faster conversions, easily set up distributed encoding using other Mac computers. Advanced Encoding for Final Cut Pro.
- Movavi Video Converter. Movavi Video Converter is extremely powerful, quick and reliable video compressor software that has amazing compression speed. Handles a large variety of formats including AVI, MPEG, OGV, FLV and several others. User friendly interface that is highly intuitive. Output quality and audio sound is unbeatable.
- During this step, you are also allowed to rename it. Besides compressing MP4 files, this software can also merge MP4 videos on Mac/Windows. Freemake Compressor for Windows PC. Freemake Compressor is a free video compressor for Windows PC. It supports Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and Vista.
But don't worry, if you keep reading, this article will explain video compression and how to compress a video on a Mac.
What is compression and how does it work?
Before you just compress all of your videos, it's important to understand what it is and what happens to a video when it's compressed.
Since a video is just a series of photos rapidly playing in succession, the process is actually very similar to compressing an image. Whatever data can be stripped out of each frame is taken away, making the overall file smaller.
Is it possible to compress videos without visible quality loss?
Compressing videos on Mac is a balancing act. Because even if you compress a video ever so slightly, there will still be some quality loss. It's all about finding how much you can compress it to reduce the file size without noticing that the video is actually of lower quality.
Clean up duplicate videos to save space
It’s easy to accidentally end up with duplicate videos on your Mac. Those duplicates don’t do anything except clutter your hard drive and waste space. Thankfully, you can use an app like Gemini 2 to scan your entire hard drive for duplicate videos and help you quickly remove them.
It’s so simple and straightforward, all you need to do is follow these three steps:
- Download and install Gemini 2 on your Mac.
- Open Gemini 2.
- Click + > Home folder > Scan for duplicates.
Then, when the scan is finished running, you can click Smart Cleanup to let Gemini’s algorithm decide which files to keep. Or, you can click Review Results to view the files for yourself.
How to compress videos with iMovie
One of the most popular ways to compress your videos is with the iMovie app. It comes standard with macOS, but if for some reason it's not on your computer, you can download it from the Mac App Store.
After you've found iMovie in your Applications folder or re-downloaded it, follow these steps to compress a video.
- Open iMovie.
- Click Create New > Movie.
- Then, click File > Import and select the video you want to compress.
- Your video will appear in the browser window. Drag it into the timeline window.
- Click File > Share > File…
- Choose your export settings. Adjusting the Resolution and Quality will have the most impact on your file size, but you can also set the Compress dropdown to Faster. Now, click Next.
- Name your video and choose where you want to save it. Hit Save.
How to compress videos with Quicktime Player
Another default macOS app you can use to compress your videos is Quicktime Player. Because Quicktime's primary use is to playback videos, people often forget that it has some basic editing tools built-in as well. Here's how you use Quicktime to compress your video files:
- Open Quicktime Player.
- A popup should appear asking you to select your video. If it doesn't, click File > Open File.
- Then, click File > Export As…
- You'll see a list of video resolutions. Choose the next lowest resolution.
- Name your video and choose a location to save it.
Tip: If you don't know your video's original resolution, you can find out by clicking Window > Movie Inspector.
Best free video compressors
While Apple's default apps are great and easy-to-use, they do leave very little room for control over your compression settings. So if you want to adjust your compressions a little more, take a more in-depth look at the apps Handbrake and Clideo.
Handbrake
Arguably the most popular compressor, Handbrake has been around for years. And it's popular for a reason. It's a simple, free video compressor for a Mac. Once you have Handbrake downloaded and installed in your Applications folder, you can follow these steps to compress a video:
- Open Handbrake.
- In the popup window, navigate to your video and click Open.
- At the top, you can choose from one of the Presets in the dropdown menu, or you can make your adjustments in the tabs above your video.
- Then, you can rename your video and select where you want to save it at the bottom of the window.
- After you've adjusted all of your settings, click the Start button at the top.
Clideo
Another option you have is the free online compressor, Clideo. As long as the video you want to compress is already under 500 MB, you can upload it using your browser, and Clideo will do the rest. And the best part is there's no software to install. Here's how you compress your videos with Clideo:
- In your browser, go to Clideo.com.
- Click Compress > Choose file and select the video you want to compress.
- Preview the video and if you want to make any adjustments, click Edit result.
- When you're happy with the quality of the video, click Download.
Free Convert
Browser-based converters—like Free Convert—make it really easy to compress your videos because there’s no app you need to install. The brightside about Free Convert is that you can upload videos up to 1 GB. But the downside is that although you get a little more control over the conversion settings, it does tend to compress your video a little more Meaning you’ll probably notice some of the compression in the video quality.
Using Free Convert is so simple, just follow these steps:
- In your browser, go to FreeConvert.com.
- Click Choose Files > Select the File > Upload.
- Adjust your Output settings.
- Then, click Compress Now!
Compressing your videos is a great way to save space on your Mac’s internal hard drive. But, cleaning up the clutter on your computer is also a surefire way to free up storage. That’s why it’s a good idea to get into the habit of regularly checking for duplicate files. Not just videos either, but all types of files. And that’s where Gemini 2 can really help you out. Since it makes it so simple to scan your hard drive and quickly remove the similar and duplicate files it finds.
While it might feel like a daunting task at first, reducing video file size on Mac doesn’t have to be scary. And the good news is you have a couple of different options. Whether you decide to use one of the default apps or one of these free tools, hopefully, you're feeling confident in compressing your videos on Mac after reading this article.
There are many scenarios that you need to use a video compressor.
- 1. Your video is too large to send or attach.
- 2. The video is larger than the maximum video upload size.
- 3. There is not enough storage space on iPhone, Android, iPad, and other devices.
- 4. Overlarge videos occupy too many system resources.
- 5. ……
At present, there are several solutions of video compression.
- 1. Reduce video resolution, bitrate, frame rate, and other video settings.
- 2. Convert a video to a smaller file format.
- 3. Crop unwanted video clips to reduce video length.
- 4. Remove black edges and make the video screen smaller.
- 5. ……
If you want to convert video files from GB to MB, you need to combine all those video size shrinking methods. Or you can check the following top video compressor reviews to get your best video compressor here.
Video Compressor
Part 1: Top 5 Video Compressors for Windows/Mac
To compress large video files to smaller sizes, it is suggested to use desktop video compressor software. You can reduce the video file size of all videos in batch quickly. Many features are helpful for video compression.
Top 1: AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate
AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate is a powerful video converter, editor, and compressor for both Windows and Mac users. You can reduce the size of 8K video with high quality by using its built-in video compressor quickly. Or you can make the video smaller with the default video converter and editor. The entire interface is well-designed and easy to use. Thus, even though you are new to video compressors, you can compress video and reduce video size by yourself.
Main Features:
- 1. Use its video compressor to make the video file size smaller without losing quality.
- 2. Convert video to MP4, FLV, and other 500+ formats to reduce file size.
- 3. Crop and trim your video to delete unimportant parts.
- 4. 70x faster speed to batch compress all video files.
- 5. No maximum file size limit for video size reduction.
Top 2: HandBrake
HandBrake is an open-source video transcoder for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can convert and compress videos with HandBrake on multiplatform. HandBrake is a good open-source free video compressor you can use.
Pros
- 1. Change video parameters to compress videos for free with HandBrake.
- 2. Reduce video size with multiple preset profiles.
Cons
- 1. You can convert large videos to MP4 and MKV format only.
- 2. The HandBrake interface is complicated for beginners.
Top 3: VSDC Free Video Converter
VSDC Free Video Converter can be your video compressor freeware. It is an open-source video compressor for Windows. You can shrink video size and adjust video parameters for free.
Pros
- 1. It is a free and open-source video file compressor for all Windows versions.
- 2. Offer a built-in video editor to perform easy video editing tasks.
Cons
- 1. There is no VSDC free video compressor for Mac version.
- 2. The change of VSDC interface makes old users confused.
Top 4: Windows Movie Maker
Though Windows Movie Maker is discontinued by Microsoft, you can still use the program to edit and compress videos on Windows 7/8/8.1/10/XP/Vista/ME. Moreover, you can get high-quality compression by compressing videos with Windows Movie Maker.
Pros
- 1. It is a default Windows video compressor and editor that has been installed already.
- 2. Compress videos on Windows with high quality through its optimized compression.
Cons
- 1. Windows Movie Maker may crash occasionally while running.
- 2. Windows Movie Maker is not available to download on Windows 10.
Top 5: Freemake Video Converter
Freemake Video Converter is not a 100% free video compressor for Windows. But you can still get the video compression support in the Freemake Video Converter free version.
Pros
- 1. Support popular video formats and devices for Windows video compression.
- 2. The user interface is friendly to new users.
Compress Video File Mac
Cons
Video Compressor Free Mac
- 1. The compressed videos contain Freemake watermark in the free version.
- 2. The video compression speed is slow unless you upgrade it.
Part 2: Top 5 Free Video Compressors Online
Online video compressors can work on almost all digital devices. You can compress videos on Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac, and Linux for free with online compressors. There is no need to install extra programs. If you reduce video size several times only, you can use a free online video compressor as well.
Online Video Compressor | Pros | Cons |
---|---|---|
AnyMP4 Online Video Compressor | 1. The video compressor online is watermark free. 2. Reduce video size for email, YouTube, and other demands smartly. 3. Make your video file size smaller with any resolution. | Lack the video enhance feature. |
Clideo | 1. The Clideo online video compressor interface is clean. 2. Download the compressed video to a local drive or Dropbox/Google Drive. | Slow online video compression speed |
Clipchamp | 1. The free video compressor supports MP4, AVI, MOV, and other popular video formats. 2. You can compress multiple large videos online at the same time. | The Clipchamp free plan allows users to compress videos online in 480p only. |
FreeConvert | 1. FreeConvert can compress videos online up to 1GB. 2. The video compressor online accepts local videos and online videos. | FreeConvert video compressor contains annoying ads. |
YouCompress | 1. Youcompress online video file compressor offers up to 85% compression ratio. 2. There is no watermark in the compressed videos. | No batch compression support. |
Part 3: FAQs of Video Compressors
Is it possible to compress 1GB video to 10MB?
Yes. You can set the video compression ratio from 0% to 100% with AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate and other video compressors. But the visual video quality will be reduced.
Compressor Mac Free
What video compressor for WhatsApp to choose?
The maximum file size for WhatsApp is 16MB. Thus, a good WhatsApp video compressor should compress videos smaller than 16MB. You can choose any online and offline video compressor mentioned above to compress video for WhatsApp.
What is the best video compressor for Android?
Many free apps that can compress videos on Android. If you have no idea which Android video compressor apk to choose, you can consider Mel Studio Video Compress, Sociosoftware Videos & Movies Compressor, Outplay Video Dieter 2, Video compressor Panda, etc.
These are highly reviewed video compressors for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. You can reduce the GB or MB size of your video for Discord, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, and many others.
Most video size compressors have simplified the video compression process too much. Once you upload the large video, it will compress and shrink the video size automatically. If you want to fully control video size decreasing, or you want to convert videos over 1GB to MB, AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate is your first choice. The ultimate video compressor software has gathered all solutions that can reduce video size effectively. You can free download the program to see how it works.
Do you have any other questions or suggestions to resize and compress videos? If Yes, you can feel free to contact us or leave messages below.