Summary: latest list of 2021 best free video compressor software is shared here. Easily reduce video (4K) size by up to 90% while keeping the highest possible quality!
With the popularity of HD and 4K videos and the arrival of 8K videos, the demand for reducing video file size is growing rapidly. To share large videos on Whatsapp, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, webs, and emails, and save storage space on computer or phone, we need to shrink video size. Here we list 2021 best Mac video compression software to compress MP4 HD/4K/8K without losing quality.
Compress Videos from GBs to MBs on Mac without Losing Quality
A quick review of these 10 solutions on how to compress a video on mac: 90X Compressing Speed Wondershare UniConverter for Mac. Professional QuickTime Player. High-Quality iMovie. For any file comrpession Mac Finder. Free Handbrake. online, free Clideo Online Video Compressor. online, free Ezgif. Free compress video on Mac with HandBrake 6. VLC Sum: An easy and fast video compressor alternative to Mac QuickTime. VLC is another popular video player among Mac users. But it is quite an unknown fact that even the VLC media player can be used as a free video compression software for Mac. In fact, you can find more compression options in VLC. Free Video Compressor For Mac free download - Free PDF Compressor, TubeMate 3, JPEG Compressor, and many more programs.
MacX Video Converter Pro - Compress HD 720P, 1080P, 4K, 5K or even 8K videos by 40%-90% smaller without quality loss. Easily shrink videos from GBs to MBs for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Whatsapp, FaceBook, webs, emails, etc.
This is free video compression software that is available for Windows and Mac system and supports a wide range of video functions like compression, conversion, editing, and others. The videos in all popular formats can be compressed using the tool as it supports over 100 input formats and 160 output formats. The Panda Video Compressor for PC app will allow you to share videos on social media, send, and store them more easily. You will be able to start to compress videos & movies without losing quality and you will save space on your phone and in the cloud, as well as reduce data usage.
[Updated] Best Free Video Compressors for Mac
1. MacX Video Converter Pro
Sum: Best video compression software for Mac to make videos by up to 90% smaller without qulaity loss.
MacX Video Converter Pro - 100% safe & professional. It is specially designed for Mac users to reduce videos with large size, for example, HD 720P, 1080P, 4K, 5K or even 8K videos.
- Compress videos to more advanced codecs like HEVC, H.264, MP4, FLV, VP9, WebM, any other formats you need.
- Change encoding format, resolution, bit rate, trim off unwanted footage, crop black bars, etc.
- 40%-90% compression ratio. Reduce video file size on Mac without noticeable quality loss.
- Ready compression options to shrink videos for YouTube, Apple iPhone, FaceBook, webs, mobiles, TVs, etc.
- GPU-accelerated video compression on Mac with 5X faster than similar Mac video compressors.
- Convert video. Edit video. Download videos online. Record screen/webcam.
We once compressed an MKV video (1920x1080), 2h23min to MP4 format from 8GB to 2.72GB. The whole video shrinking process costs 23min53s. This Mac compression software reduces MKV video size 56% off. The whole video compression process took place on a 27-inch iMac (2011 Middle) with OS X Yosemite operating system, powered by 2.7GHz Intel Core i5.
How to compress a video on Mac with MacX Video Converter Pro
Step 1. Free download the video compressor to your Mac (Big Sur incl.) and run it. Click the + video button to load the video files you want to downsize.
Step 2. Choose an output format from the pop-up window:
- To compress 4K or HD videos on Mac, choose HEVC which format provides a high compression rate.
- To compress a large video file to mobiles, here are 420+ readymade profiles for mobiles, which means you can compress video to iPhone iPad Android with a small file size and high quality in one click.
- To shrink video for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Vimeo, other websites, or reduce video for e-mail, go to Web Video Profile column and select a streaming video format like FLV, 3GP, WMV, etc. These formats are specially set for uploading video to website barely with the smallest size yet the highest possible quality.
Tips: You can adjust the slidebar of LQ-HQ or click 'Use High Quality Engine' in the advanced setting area to improve your compressed video quality.
Step 3. Click the icon to adjust the video parameters, like Resolution and Bit Rate to make your file smaller. Generally, frame rate and frame size don't much affect the file size.
You can adjust or lower the video resolution (such as downscale 4K to 1080P, 1080P to 720P), and lower the video/audio bit rate by 20-50% compared with its default one. Normally, the smaller video you want, the lower bit rate.
Step 4. Click the icon to edit the video where it is allowed to crop the black bars, remove commercials from video/movie and freely set up the Start Time/End time to get favorite clips, in such a way the video file will be downsized with nary a quality loss (no video conversion involved).
Step 5. Click the 'Browse' button to choose the destination folder and click the 'RUN' button to start to compress video files without losing quality.
2. Finder
Sum: An easy way to free compress a bunch of video files in a folder.
Before you try third-party video compression software on Mac, you should know that some of Mac's built-in free compressor apps have some basic video compression features for different purposes. The first we would like to recommend to you is Finder. If offers video compression and decompression on Mac in the ZIP format. That means videos can be compressed without losing quality on Mac during the compression.
However, in other words, the output file size of the compressed video won't be too much smaller than that of the original video, though the actual amount of compression will depend on the type of your file.
How do I compress video files in Mac Finder?
Step 1. Open Finder and select the video or video folder in the Finder. Right-click on it and select 'Compress file name'.
Step 2. The Mac will begin to compress the video. Once finished, a .zip file with the same name will be displayed next to the file you selected.
Step 3. The zip file contains the compressed video and your original video is untouched. Double-click on it to decompress the zip file and the Mac will extract the files right next to it. For information on Finder compressing video on Mac here.
3. QuickTime Player
Sum: Suitable for very simple and quick video compression on Mac
Apple's default media player actually can help free compress videos on Mac. There are options to adjust the video resolution to 4K, 1080P, 720P, and 480P to make your videos smaller. The drawback to it is that it offers only a few options to reduce the file size on Mac, but it gets the results done. Another thing to note is the compressed output video will be encoded in MOV format, regardless of the import format.
How do I compress video on Mac with QuickTime Player?
Step 1. To make a video smaller for free, open the app from your Applications folder. Click File > Open File to navigate to the video that you want to compress and open it.
Step 2. Next, click File > and select Export. Then you can see 4k (if applicable), 1080p, 720p, 480p, or exporting audio only options. To downsize your video on Mac without noticeable quality loss, you're suggested to compress video to a resolution slightly lower than the original quality. For example, you can compress 4K to 1080P to get a relatively good result.
Step 3. Then set the file name and output folder. Click Save to start to compress.
4. iMovie
Sum: Best free Mac video compression software with editing features
If you want a more versatile free video compressor for Mac, don't miss iMovie. Like Finder and QuickTime, iMovie is pre-installed on Mac computers. It has more editing features to make videos smaller on Mac. To be specific, it lets you split a long video into shorter clips, cut off extra parts from the video, change the video dimensions, and adjust the output resolutions. All the features can shrink a video to your desired size.
How do I reduce the size of a video in iMovie?
Step 1. Open the iMovie app on Mac. Select the Create New icon to create a new project and click Import Media to load your video into the app. Then drag the video to the timeline.
Step 2. On the timeline, right-click on the video and click Split Clip so as to split it into shorter clips. This is suitable for compress a very long and large video without losing quality. You can also select Show Clip Trimmer to trim the unwanted length by drag the edge toward the clip's center.
Step 3. To further downsize a video on Mac, click the Crop button on the menu bar above the video window. Then you can remove portions like the black bar from the video image. This will also result in a smaller file size.
Step 4. If you don't want to make any changes to your video, you can skip Steps 2 and 3. Simply drag your video to the timeline, and click the Share button on the upper right hand corner. Select File and lower the resolution & quality of the video to make it smaller.
Step 5. Check the final sizes of different settings on the left hand below the video preview window. If it's OK for you, simply click Next.
5. Handbrake
Sum: Best free video compressor for Mac with flexible options
HandBrake is a free and open-source compressor running on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It can rip DVD, Blu-ray, convert video, and compress videos. It has a wide range of features to help you easily compress a video to different sizes for Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, email, etc.
- Support compressing videos in any video format & resolution.
- Downsize video by changing the codec, lowering video resolution, bit rate, cropping, trimming, etc.
- Provide a lot of advanced features. It's great for tech-savvy users, but can be overwhelming for novices.
- Output formats are MP4 and MKV.
How to compress video on Mac with HandBrake
Step 1. Launch the free compression software on Mac and click the Open Source button to import the video you want to shrink.
Step 2. Under Preset, you can select an output with different qualities. The faster and lower preset will result in a smaller video size but lower quality. So you need to balance it.
Step 3. Under the section below, there is a slew of settings to change to compress the video on Mac. Under Summary, select MP4 for wider compatibility and Webm for web usage.
Step 4: Under the Video tab, you can change the video codec to H.265 or VP9 to get better compression. Lower the Quality by 1-2 RF to get a smaller video without noticeable quality loss.
Step 5. Under the Dimensions tab, resize the video to a lower resolution and crop the image if necessary. After all the settings, hit the Start button to begin reducing video file size. Learn detailed steps to compress video using Handbrake >>
6. VLC
Sum: An easy and fast video compressor alternative to Mac QuickTime
VLC is another popular video player among Mac users. But it is quite an unknown fact that even the VLC media player can be used as a free video compression software for Mac. In fact, you can find more compression options in VLC than in QuickTime Player. With VLC, you can select a smaller-size format like MP4, WebM, FLV, others in H.265, H.264, MPEG4, etc., adjust the audio and video bitrate, and resize the video with one click.
How do I reduce the size of a video in Mac VLC?
Step 1. Open VLC, click File > select Converter/Stream. Then use the Open Media to load your video.
Step 2. Next, in the Choose Profile section, click Customise. First, click the Encapsulation button from the popping-up window. Select a smaller format like WebM, MP4, or FLV bsed on your need.
Step 3. Then click on the Video Codec button. Here you can select a more advanced codec for the video like H.265 for smaller output results. Lower the bitrate and resolution a little bit if necessary. You can also open the dropdown menu of Scale and select a value below 1 to downscale the video.
Step 4. Click Apply and back to the main interface. Click Save as File to set an output folder and click Go to start.
7. Avidemux
Sum: An open-source editor for Mac to compress a video to a specific size.
Avidemux is a free non-linear video editor for Mac to compress, cut, edit, filter and encode easily. It allows Mac users to compress the video to a smaller size for Instagram, TikTok, Whatsapp, YouTube, etc. in different ways. Users can downsize the video to a smaller video format like HEVC, VP9, x264, FLV, etc., adjust the bit rate & resolution, crop and resize to make the video smaller, and split a long and large video. The best part of the free Mac compression software is that users are allowed to set a desired output size.
Video Compressor Download
How to compress video on Mac with Avidemux?
Step 1. Download Avidemux and open it. Click the Open Video button to load in the video you want to compress.
Step 2. Under the Video Decoder, select Video Output to HEVC x265, Mpeg4 AVC (x264), or VP9 for smaller output size. Set the Audio output to AAC (FDK) to ensure the best results. And then select an output muxer like MP4, MOV, WebM, etc.
Step 3. Next, click Configure in Video Output. Under the General tab, navigate to Encoding Mode -> select Two Pass – Video Size in the list. Then you can enter the video size you want to shrink the video into the box Target Video Size (in MB).
Step 4. If you want to further compress the video on Mac, click Video on the top menu of the main interface > Filters > click swsResize or Crop to adjust the resolutions and crop off unwanted parts from the video.
Step 5. Back on the main interface, you can use the buttons marked A and B under the timeline to split a long video into smaller clips.
8. FFmpeg
Sum: A powerful Mac video compressor for advanced users.
FFmpeg is a collection of free libraries and tools to process multimedia content such as audio, video, subtitles on Mac and other platforms. It's a very advanced and powerful compression software free for Mac that can easily reduce the file size of a video, like a 720p video from 1.7 GB to 67 MB without changing resolution or any quality loss! The only drawback is that it requires a steep learning curve.
How do I compress videos using FFmpeg on Mac?
Step 1. Install FFmpeg on Mac using Homebrew: in Terminal, type the command 'brew install ffmpeg' and hit Return.
Step 2. First, put the video you want to compress on your Desktop, Movies folder, or somewhere FFmpeg can get at it.
Step 3. Open a new Terminal window and you may see something like 'yourname@yourcomputer ~ %', change the ~ to the folder containing your video file, and hit Return. You should now be in the folder that contains your original video file.
Step 4. Now you can use the commands and flags to compress videos on Mac. For example, -c:v specifies the video codec; -b:v specifies video bitrate; -c:a specifies audio codec; -b:a audio bitrate; ; -filter:v specifies a filter... There are many command lines on FFmpeg official site and various forums, below are some simple measures to shrink videos on Mac:
- Compress videos to smaller formats: ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx265 -crf 26 -preset fast -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4
- Change the bitrate:ffmpeg -i input -c:a copy -c:v libx265 -b:v 1M output.mp4
- Compress 4K video to 720P:ffmpeg -i input -c:a copy -s 1280x720 output.mp4
9. Final Cut Pro X Compressor
Sum: Apple's Compressor for Mac that can export Final Cut Pro videos to a smaller size.
The Compressor is designed to work with Final Cut Pro to provide more power and flexibility to the output. It provides high support to compress 4K videos, HDR, and 360° videos. Users can compress videos on Mac by encoding the output to HEVC, H.264, MPEG-4, etc., and adjusting parameters and choose from a variety of frame rates and resolutions. It offers an one-click solution to compress and upload videos for popular video websites, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook.
How do you use Mac Compressor to compress videos?
Step 1. Apple Compressor is not free. You need to install and purchase FCP first. Open Compressor and add media files from your computer or a connected storage device. Each media source file in Compressor is called a job.
Step 2. Under the Settings, select to compress your video to Apple Devices in 4K HEVC, HD, SD, YouTube & Facebook, or others. Then set a save location from the pop-up menu.
Step 3. If necessary, adjust the video properties such as resolutions, bitrate, etc. Customize the final cropping, sizing, and aspect ratio using the Cropping & Padding properties in Compressor. Set the encoder type to faster for a faster codec, standard quality, and smaller size.
10. Clipchamp
Sum: A convenient online tool if you don't want to install a video compressor on Mac.
If you don't want to download desktop-based video compression software on Mac, you can simply use free online video compressors, just like Clipchamp. When an internet connection is available, simply open a browser on your Mac, get access to Clipchamp utility, and then you can import a video for compressing.
- Reduce MP4, AVI, MOV, WebM, and more video formats.
- Support batch processing.
- Provide presets for web (Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo), Windows, and Mobile.
- Allow you to downsize videos to a desired resolution (240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K) and quality.
- Available output formats include MP4, WebM, and FLV.
How to compress video with Clipchamp on Mac?
Step 1. Open a web browser on your Mac computer, and access Clipchamp online video compressor.
Compress Video On Mac
Step 2. Drag target video into the dotted box.
Step 3. Choose what you want to optimize for, web, Windows, Mobile, or Animation. You can also hit Customize settings to specify resolution, format, and quality.
Step 4. Hit Start to begin processing your video.
Updated: June 04, 2021 By: Dessign Team
If you looking for the best free video converter or compressor we put a list of the best free video compressors both software video compressor or online video compressor. Freemake Video Converter converts video and movies between 500+ formats and gadgets for free!
Convert to MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, DVD, iPhone, Android. Convert video file of any size or format. Absolutely free. If you looking for the best free video themes we have a great list to help you pick some of the best free WordPress video themes available in 2021. If you don't want to host your own videos we have great post about the best free video hosting sites for WordPress users. If you looking for the best free video editing software to help you edit your videos online.
Best Free Video Compressors for Mac and Windows both Software and Online MP4 Compressor 2021
1. VideoProc
Compress Video by: 60% | Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars(300+ Reviews) | Performance: 98% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
VideoProc comes as the No.1 fast video processing software that peaks Level-3 Hardware Acceleration fully powered by Intel®, AMD® and NVIDIA® GPUs, delivering buttery smooth (4K) video editing and transcoding without compromising quality. A-to-B video conversion: Encompassing 370 input codecs and 420+ output formats, the impeccable 4K-capable video converter answers all simple and complicated transcoding needs, e.g. H264 to H265 (HEVC), MKV to iPhone/MP4, AVI to YouTube, 3D to 2D.
2. Clideo – Compress Video
Compress Video by: 40% | Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars(100+ Reviews) | Performance: 97% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
The tool will do everything for you, just upload your file and it'll set the best parameters to reduce its size and to keep quality as much as possible. You're the only one who has access to your files because all the communications are performed via secure channels. The video compressor is completely online which means that you don't have to download and install anything to your device. Clideo works with any popular format like MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI, and with more rare ones as well.
3. Freemake Video Converter
Compress Video by: 50% | Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars(100+ Reviews) | Performance: 98% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
Freemake Video Converter converts video and movies between 500+ formats and gadgets for free!
Convert to MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, DVD, iPhone, Android. Convert video file of any size or format.
Absolutely free. No trials or limitations.
4. Movavi Video Converter
Compress Video by: 50% | Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars(300+ Reviews) | Performance: 97% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
Need a simple conversion app that lets you access any popular file format? This powerful software by Movavi can be used not only as a tool for processing videos, but also as an audio converter for your Mac, a video-to-audio encoder, and a photo converter. Try the program now and unleash the full potential of your Mac!
5. Video Compressor
Compress Video by: 40% | Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars(30+ Reviews) | Performance: 98% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
World's best video compressor to compress MP4, AVI, MKV, or any other video file. Choose the default options to compress video size by 40%, or choose a custom size.
How To Compress a Video?
- Click the “Choose Video” button to select your video file
- Keep the default options (they do a great job!) or specify advanced options
- Click on the “Compress Video” button to start compression
- When the status change to “Done” click the “Download Video” button
Which Encoder Is Best for Compressing Video?
We use two popular video encoding methods that are supported by most modern devices and browsers: H.264 and H.265. Out of these two encoding methods, H.265 yields better compression, especially at higher resolutions such as 1080p or 4k.
Advanced Methods of Video Compression
There are two main methods to compress a video. You can either optimize the bitrate or resize the video to a smaller size. We provide 4 settings related to both methods. Here’s an explanation:
1. By Video Quality
CRF (Constant Rate Factor): CRF method attempts to keep a constant perceived video quality. To do that, it uses different compression levels on different frames. For H264 encoder, possible CRF values range from 0 to 51. Higher values mean more compression (reduced file size), lower values mean better quality (but bigger file size). The default is set at 23.
Preset: Presets refers to the video compression speed. Choosing a slower preset allows better optimization (lower bitrate/file size) for a given video quality level. If you prefer lower file size over encoding time, choose a slower preset.
2. As a Percentage of the Original Size (Default)
This method allows you to set a target file size for your video as a percentage of the original size. For example, if you set it to 60% for a 1Gb file, we will attempt to make your compressed file size 600Mb or less.
The pros of this method is, you can achieve a certain target size. The downside is you don’t know how the target size will affect video quality. To overcome this, start with a decent size (as a percentage of original), then test for video quality. Increase the target size if you need better quality.
This is the default video compression method used.
3. Set Max Bitrate
This method allows you to set the max bitrate for given video quality. The quality is set by CRF (constant rate factor). Select this method if you are using the video in a streaming application where you want to control the streaming bandwidth rate. To choose this option, select “By Max Bitrate” from the “Video Compress” dropdown.
Video Compressor Free Mac
For more info: read video bitrate control
4: Make Video Size Smaller (Re-Size)
Choosing a smaller video resolution (dimensions) can also save file size. For example, if you have a 4K (4320p) video but your target device is 1080p, you can downsize the video to fit 1080p and save file size. To choose this option, choose “Re-size video” from “Advanced Settings” above.
How to play compressed video?
Codecs we use for compression are supported by all major browsers and devices. So you should not have any playback issues. If any issues, try opening the video with the free VLC player (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Mobile versions available). Allowed file types are: mp4, m4v, mkv, avi, wmv, f4v, f4p, mov, qt, vob, mpeg, m1v, mpv, 3gp, 3g2, rmvb, mts, m2ts, xvid, flv, rm, divx, asf, webm, wtv, dvr-ms, ogv, swf, mpg, 3gpp
6. Wondershare – Video Compressor
Compress Video by: 50% | Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars(200+ Reviews) | Performance: 98% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
You can compress video online via a web browser without any software download and installation, Windows, Mac, and Linux are all supported.
Save the compressed video to Dropbox and share on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You can compress video online, free in any resolution including 4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, 240p, and other non-standard options. Video formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WMV can be compressed online. Smart video compressor to reduce video file size with one click, further customization like video resolution, output size, and format are also available.
7. HandBrake
Compress Video by: 30% | Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars(300+ Reviews) | Performance: 96% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
HandBrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.
Reasons you’ll love HandBrake:
- Convert video from nearly any format
- Free and Open Source
- Multi-Platform (Windows, Mac and Linux)
8. YouCompress – Free Online File Compressor
Compress Video by: 40% | Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(30+ Reviews) | Performance: 95% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI
Easiest Way to Compress Files Online
This free online file compression tool lets you quickly compress files online, it supports MP4, MOV, MP3, PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF files. No registration is required, you can compress unlimited files and no watermark is added.
9. Free Video Compressor
Compress Video by: 40% | Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars(10+ Reviews) | Performance: 98% | Updates & Support: Yes | Converts: MP4, WMV, MOV, VOB, AVI, MKV, ASF, RMVB (RM)
Free Video Compressor is a free and lightweight video compression software that can compress almost common video files, it can help you to easily shrink a video clip and reduce video file size. This software can work with many popular video formats, such as MP4 (MPEG4), MPG, AVI, FLV, F4V, M4V, WMV, MOV, MKV, ASF, RMVB (RM) and more.
First of all, the most important option is “Desired Video Size”. After software open a source video, it will read and show key video information, such as: File Size, Bitrate, Duration, Video Format, Video Bitrate, Audio Format, Audio Bitrate and Video Dimension (Width / Height), then software will calculate an estimated output video size, that is “Desired Video Size”. This desired video size is approximate value, resulting file may be smaller or larger than this size, you can change this value as you need. (Bitrate information is displayed as KB/S, KB/S = kiloBits/second).
The generated video format is MP4 container format with H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec. The encoding video quality is based output file size, output file size is more bigger and resulting video quality is more higher and more clearer.
What are the Best Free Video Compressors?
The best Free Video Compressors are: VideoProc, Clideo – Compress Video, Freemake Video Converter, Movavi Video Converter, Video Compressor
What is the best Free Video Compressor for Mac?
Movavi Video Converter. This powerful software by Movavi can be used not only as a tool for processing videos, but also as an audio converter for your Mac, a video-to-audio encoder, and a photo converter. Try the program now and unleash the full potential of your Mac!
What is the Best Free Video Converter?
Freemake Video Converter Freemake Video Converter converts video and movies between 500+ formats and gadgets for free! Convert to MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, DVD, iPhone, Android. Convert video file of any size or format. Absolutely free. No trials or limitations.