# Compress Video — Compress video on Mac

Make videos much smaller while keeping them sharp. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: Video. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Re-encode videos with H.264 at a quality you choose, optionally capping the resolution at 1080p, 720p or 480p. Typical phone videos shrink by 70–90% while staying sharp, and the result plays everywhere.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/compress-video · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Install FFmpeg once.** The first time, OneMacTools offers to install FFmpeg, the free video engine, through Homebrew with one click. You won't be asked again.
2. **Drop your videos.** Drag in one clip or a whole batch. Or select them in Finder, right-click and choose Quick Actions › OMT: Compress Video, which uses your last settings.
3. **Pick the quality and size.** Choose Smallest, Balanced or High in the right-hand panel, and cap the resolution if the video is bigger than it needs to be.
4. **Click Compress.** Each video is re-encoded as an H.264 MP4. A progress bar shows how far along it is.
5. **Check the results.** Copies ending in “compressed” are saved in a new dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Watch one with the Preview (eye) button or use Show in Finder to compare sizes. Your originals don't change.

## Options
- **Quality:** Smallest, Balanced or High, Balanced by default. Smallest gives the tiniest files with some softness in fine detail; High keeps more detail in a bigger file. Balanced suits most phone clips and screen recordings.
- **Max resolution:** Keep original, 1080p, 720p or 480p. Videos taller than the limit are scaled down with their shape kept; smaller videos are never enlarged. Lowering the resolution saves a lot of space on 4K clips.

## Tips
- For phone videos you're sharing, try Balanced with Max resolution at 1080p. 4K is rarely needed on a phone or laptop screen.
- Screen recordings compress very well because most of the screen stays still. Smallest often looks fine for them.
- If you need to stay under a specific limit, such as 25 MB for email, use Compress to Size instead. Compress Video picks quality, not a file size.
- Trim first. Cutting the parts you don't need saves more space than any quality setting.
- Keep the original if it's footage you might edit later. Each re-encode loses a little detail.

## Questions
**How do I compress a video on a Mac?**
Drop it onto Compress Video, leave Quality on Balanced and click Compress. Or right-click it in Finder and choose Quick Actions › OMT: Compress Video.

**How much smaller will my video get?**
Typical phone videos shrink by 70–90% while staying sharp. Capping the resolution at 1080p or 720p saves even more.

**I need the video under a limit, like 25 MB for email.**
Use Compress to Size instead. You pick the size and it fits the video under it.

**Which quality setting should I choose?**
Balanced for most videos. Choose High for footage with lots of fine detail or movement, and Smallest when size matters more than sharpness, such as screen recordings.

**Will a compressed video play on Windows and Android?**
Yes. The result is an H.264 MP4 with AAC audio, which plays on practically every phone, computer, browser and social network.

**Can I compress 4K video to 1080p?**
Yes. Set Max resolution to 1080p. The video is scaled down with its shape kept, which cuts the size a lot on top of the quality setting.