How do I make a video smaller without uploading it?
Drop the file, pick a quality level or a target size in MB, optionally cap the height at 720p — done. The video is re-encoded by the encoder your own device provides, directly in the browser. Nothing is transferred, nothing is stored, and you see the result with its size before and after.
How does a target size become a bitrate?
Size and bitrate are linked through duration: bitrate = bytes × 8 ÷ seconds. For 25 MB in two minutes that is 25,000,000 × 8 ÷ 120 ≈ 1.7 Mbit/s for picture and sound together. From that the tool subtracts the audio bitrate (128 kbit/s by default) and a small container reserve; the rest goes to the video. If that rest gets so small that the picture would fall apart, the tool says so beforehand instead of selling you a mushy file as a success.
Which bitrate does which resolution need?
As a reference point: YouTube recommends about 8 Mbit/s for uploaded 1080p material at 30 frames per second (YouTube Help, "Recommended upload encoding settings", checked in July 2026), and roughly 5 Mbit/s for 720p. If you need to go well below that, reduce the resolution rather than only the bitrate: a clean 720p looks better than a 1080p that has run out of bits.
Why is my phone video barely getting smaller?
Because it is already efficiently encoded. Modern cameras produce H.264 or HEVC at a sensible bitrate; a second pass with a similar setting saves little and costs quality. Three levers actually work: trim it (bitrate is size divided by time), cap the height (720p has less than half the pixels of 1080p) and drop the audio (about 1 MB per minute).
What this tool cannot do
It does not perform magic: below roughly 150 kbit/s of video bitrate every clip becomes unusable, and no encoder hits its bitrate target to the byte — which is why the output is measured afterwards and a missed target is reported. Processing takes roughly as long as the video runs, the tab has to stay open, and your device needs a video encoder (Chrome, Edge and Safari have one; older browsers do not always).