How it works

On your device

Modern browsers can read, decode and encode video on their own, using your computer's dedicated video hardware where it has some. EZ Video Compressor uses that built-in ability. When you add a video, it is read straight from your disk, re-encoded at the size and quality you chose, and handed back for you to download. There is nothing to install and nothing to wait for from a server.

What the settings do

• Smallest file, Balanced, Best quality. These set how much detail the encoder may throw away. Smallest saves the most space and looks softer. Best quality looks near-identical for most videos.
• Hit a file size. Tell us how big the result should be, such as 25 MB for an email. We work out the quality needed to land close to that. Results usually come in a little under the target.
• More options. Cap the frame rate, remove the sound, or set the quality level yourself. On devices that can create H.265 video, you can also choose it for smaller files.

Getting the smallest file

• Remove the sound if you don't need it.
• Cap the frame rate at 30 fps for footage shot at 60.
• Try Smallest file, and only go up if the picture looks too soft.

Limits worth knowing

• Compressing uses your device's memory and video hardware. Long or very large videos can take a while, and on phones very large files may not finish.
• Keep the tab open while it works. Closing it stops the job.
• The output is always an MP4, and we read MP4, MOV, MKV and WebM files. Older formats such as AVI, WMV and FLV are not supported yet.
• If a video is already highly compressed, the result may not be smaller, and we'll tell you.