How to compress a video without losing quality (free)
Updated: October 28, 2026
A video straight from a camera or phone can be far larger than it needs to be. Compressing it well shrinks it to a fraction of the size without the eye noticing, so it uploads faster and plays better on slow connections. The key is understanding bitrate and picking the right codec.
What determines a video’s size
Size depends mainly on bitrate (how much data per second the video uses) multiplied by duration. Resolution and frame rate matter because they need more bitrate to look good.
You can work out how big your video will be at a given bitrate (or which bitrate you need for a target size) with our video size and bitrate calculator.
Recommended bitrate per resolution (H.264)
- 720p: 2.5–4 Mbps.
- 1080p: 4.5–8 Mbps.
- 1440p: 9–16 Mbps.
- 4K (2160p): 20–35 Mbps.
- AAC audio: 128–192 kbps.
Compress with HandBrake (easy)
- 1Open the video in HandBrake (free, for Windows, macOS and Linux).
- 2Pick a preset such as “Fast 1080p30” or the one matching your resolution.
- 3Under “Video”, choose H.264 and constant quality (RF) between 20 and 23: lower means more quality and size.
- 4MP4 format with “Web Optimized” on and AAC audio.
- 5Click “Start Encode”.
Compress with ffmpeg (full control)
This command uses constant quality (CRF 23), which adjusts the bitrate to what each scene needs. Lower the CRF to 20 for more quality:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset slow -c:a aac -b:a 160k -movflags +faststart output.mp4What about H.265 (HEVC)?
H.265 achieves the same result at a smaller size, but not every browser plays it. For publishing on the web, H.264 with AAC audio is still the most compatible choice.
Frequently asked questions
Technically yes, but with a CRF of 20–23 in H.264 the difference is imperceptible to most people.