Your iPhone lets you record videos in amazing quality. However, the downside to this is that videos end up with enormous file sizes. Since most social media services restrict the file size for sharing, you're probably wondering how to make your iPhone videos smaller.

One way to deal with this is by learning how to compress videos on your iPhone. When you apply compression, the video quality mostly remains the same, but you get a much smaller file size than the original.

If you're interested, here are all the best ways to compress a video on your iPhone to reduce its file size.

1. Reduce the Video Size on Your iPhone Using Video Compress

Using a third-party compression app is the easiest way to make a video smaller on your iPhone. Video Compress is a free app on the App Store that allows you to compress your videos to make them smaller without affecting the quality.

You don't need to configure any complex options for compression. Simply load your video in the app, and it'll reduce the size for you.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Download and install Video Compress on your iPhone if you haven't already done that.
  2. Open the app and tap the cog icon in the top-right corner. Then, select an output file format from the Export File Type. Your compressed video will save in this format.
  3. Head back to the main interface and tap the only icon on the screen.
  4. Grant the app permission to access all your videos and photos. If you only wish to grant the app access to specific videos, tap Select Photos instead.
  5. Choose the video you want to compress from your gallery and tap the checkmark icon in the top right.
  6. You'll see a slider that lets you adjust the compression level for your video. Drag this slider to see the resulting file size. When you are happy with the size, tap the Download icon in the top-right corner.
  7. Wait for the app to compress your video.
  8. The app will save the video automatically. On the next screen, once the compression is done, you can choose to delete the original video by tapping Delete Original.

After using the app to compress your iPhone video, you'll find it saved in Photos.

2. Make a Video Smaller on Your iPhone Using Compress Videos & Resize Video

Another option to change the video quality on your iPhone is the Compress Videos & Resize Video app, which is free with a premium version available. This app reduces the size of your iPhone videos to a great extent, letting you share your videos anywhere from your iPhone where there are size limitations.

Here's how to use this app to make your iPhone videos smaller:

  1. Launch Compress Videos & Resize Video and allow it to access your photos and videos.
  2. Tap Select Videos to Compress to add a video for compression.
  3. Select a video to compress and tap Next.
  4. On the resulting screen, specify a Frame Rate and Video Dimensions for your resulting video file. The smaller the numbers you choose here, the more you will shrink your video file.
  5. Then, tap the Compress button and wait while the app compresses your video.
  6. Once your video is compressed, you'll see the old size as well as the new size of your video. To delete your original video, tap the Delete Original option. Otherwise, select Keep 1 Original to keep both original and compressed videos on your phone.

To find your compressed video, open Photos, select Albums at the bottom, and tap Recents. Your compressed video will be among the latest files in your Recents album.

3. Compress a Video on Your iPhone Using Media Converter

Not all video formats are fully optimized for small file sizes. Since your iPhone focuses more on the quality rather than the size of your video files, it uses a format that allows for better quality but eats up more of your space.

Converting your iPhone video from the default format to another compressed format is another way to compress your videos. This shouldn't have too much impact on the quality of your video, and your video file size will be many times smaller.

Media Converter, another free app with a premium version available, is one such app you can use to convert and compress your videos. Here's how:

  1. Download and install Media Converter on your iPhone.
  2. Select Compress Video under the Videos section. The app has many tools including a way to convert MOV videos to MP4 on your iPhone.
  3. On the next page, select the source of your video (We'll be using Phone Album in this example) and grant the app access to your files. Next, choose the video you'd like to compress.
  4. On the video compression page, choose a Compression mode, ratio, and specific time range (if you don't wish to compress the entire video).
  5. Tap More Settings to select your preferred frame rate, output format, codes, and video resolution of the output video in the Video Settings tab. If you'd like to adjust the audio, tap Audio Settings from the top of the pop-up screen. Once you're done, tap OK to save your changes.
  6. Now, tap the Next button in the top-right corner and select Start from the pop-up to start compression.
  7. Once the process is complete, you'll see the converted file in the My Creation tab.

The compressed video will stay in Media Converter until you save it to Photos. Before then, you can only find the video by opening Files and finding the MediaConvert folder either on your iPhone's local storage or iCloud.

If you'd like to save the compressed video to Photos, tap the forward-facing arrow on the right of the file name and select More > Save to Photos.

4. Compress an iPhone Video Online

An online tool could be more convenient if you only have a few videos to compress. You don't have to install an app to use these tools; these web apps work just as well as native iOS apps. Clideo is one such online tool that helps compress your iPhone videos on the web.

All you need to do is upload your video, let the tool convert it, and then download the resulting file to your local storage. Clideo also offers an option to save the resultant compressed video to your Google Drive or Dropbox account.

Keep in mind that this site will add its branding to your video (unless you subscribe to its paid plan). If you're fine with that, here's how to compress your iPhone videos using Clideo:

  1. Open Safari and go to Clideo's site.
  2. Tap Choose file and select Photo Library.
  3. Select the video to compress and tap Done in the top right. It will upload to Clideo's site.
  4. Wait for the tool to compress your video.
  5. When your video is compressed, tap Download. Safari will prompt you to download the file; tap Download to confirm.
  6. Alternatively, you can choose to save your video in Google Drive or Dropbox, which is great if you want to compress your video and share it via email. To save the video to Google Drive or Dropbox, tap the downward-facing arrow to the right-hand side of the Download button, select your preferred option, and follow the instructions.

If you chose to download the compressed video offline, you can find it wherever Safari saves your downloaded files. By default, you'll find the file in the Downloads folder in iCloud Drive. However, if you had to change where Safari saves your downloads, ensure you go to that specific location.

5. Make Your iPhone Record Smaller Videos

You can actually configure what resolution your iPhone records videos in. The lower the resolution, the smaller your video file will be. If you are fine with compromising the quality of your videos, you can get your iPhone to record smaller videos by default. Here's how:

  1. Launch the Settings app and tap Camera.
  2. Tap Record Video.
  3. Choose an option that balances both the size and quality of your videos. The lower the number, the smaller the file size.

You can also change your iPhone's video quality inside the Camera app. No matter which method you use, this will reduce the output video size of every video shot by your iPhone.

Shrink Your iPhone Videos in Minutes

You don't have to live with huge video files on your iPhone. As shown above, there are many ways to compress and reduce video file sizes on your iPhone. Using these tools to make your videos smaller will not only help save storage space but also make them compatible with more file-sharing options.