How To Compress Video Files for Email

If you are trying to send a video via email, there is a good chance that you are having trouble sending it.

Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that something is wrong with the file or the service. Rather, the clip that you are trying to send is too long.

This may leave you asking “how can I send a video that is too big?”

Fortunately for you, the solution is rather simple: you need to condense the clip so that it takes up less space.

Now, there are several ways that you can do this depending on the type of video, your operating system, and the email account provider.

To learn all of the tricks of the trade, including how to compress video file, here is what you need to know…

Why Are Videos So Large?

Now, considering your predicament you may be thinking, “Why are my video files so large?” Well, there are two reasons for this.

The first could be that your video is rather long. As you can imagine, the more data contained within an audiovisual clip, the more space that it will take up.

Of course, it isn’t unusual to find certain smaller clips being rather large as well. When this happens, it is usually because the video is of a higher resolution.

These videos are encoded at a higher bitrate to make sure that the quality is preserved. Thus, they are quite a bit larger and you end up with a video too large to email.

As far as emailing videos go, though, the problem isn’t entirely with the video. Your email account provider is also partially to blame.

This is because they place a limit on the average attachment size as well as the email in general. For instance, Gmail and Yahoo Mail only send emails that are 25MB or less. Hotmail and Outlook are lower at 10MB per email. Therefore, you need to downsize the clip before you send it.

How to Compress a Video

If you are wondering about how to make video files smaller, then you should be aware that there are several ways to do this. As mentioned, the exact method will depend on the file type, your operating system, email account provider, and more.

So, here are your top options to shrink video:

Using a Converter

Let’s imagine that you have made a movie using an Android device or an adventure camera. In this instance, you may be unable to edit the video as it is.

Thus, for this purpose, you will need to download a video converter. There are several free options and they are typically compatible with various operating systems.

For the most part, video converters are meant to change video files from one type to another. However, they also have another function – compression.

By passing your file through this program, you will be able to select how much smaller the size can be made.

Zipping on Windows

If you are trying to figure out how to reduce video file size Windows 10, you will be relieved to know that the process is incredibly simple.

Best of all, if you rely on this method, you will not have to be concerned with a reduction in quality.

How to zip a video file in Windows:

• Right-click on the video file
• Select “Send to” and “Compressed (zipped) folder
• Attach the zipped folder to the email

It should be noted that this method isn’t suitable for every video. This is because zipping files doesn’t always reduce the size by all that much. So, if your video is very long or high-quality, the change may not be too noticeable. If this is the case, you can then opt for some of the options that are tackled later on…

Compressing on Mac

If you have a Mac computer, of course, then you will be dealing with the iMovie program. This means that you will need to know how to reduce iMovie file size.

However, if you want to send the video in its entirety without making any changes, the process is rather straightforward and you don’t need the iMovie program. Instead, do this:

• Right-click on the video and select “Compress <File Name>”
• You can then Share or attach it separately onto an email

If you want to only select a small portion of the video clip, then you will need to follow these steps for sending iMovie via email:

• Import the video to iMovie
• Open the video in iMovie
• Drag on the video strip to isolate video clip to send
• Go to File > Share > Email > Small

Using Google Drive and OneDrive

Last but not least, there is Google Drive and OneDrive, depending on the email account provider that you use. This option can be one of the quickest and most hassle-free ways to send video to other individuals via email.

Now, in case you are questioning “does Google Drive compress video?” the answer would be, not exactly. This is because there isn’t actually any compression involved with either Google Drive or OneDrive. Instead, these cloud-based storage options simply allow for larger attachments.

Therefore, you can simply upload the video to the cloud storage without having to compress it all. This allows you to leave the quality intact and to make very few changes to it at all. Once it is in the cloud storage, all authorized parties can access it.

With Google Drive, there are two ways to send the video via email. If the people who you are messaging already have Google Drive, then you can do this:

Insert files using Drive > Attachment

If they don’t have the service then you can create a Drive link that you can email to them.

Insert files using Drive > Drive link

With OneDrive, you can simply go to the video in cloud storage and right-click on it. You will then be supplied with the Share option that allows you to create a link that you can send to others.

As you can see, there are a number of ways to compress video files for email and send them as well. So, the next time you need to send a large clip, these are the avenues that you should consider.