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Looking into the best video compressor for PC or Mac? Whether you are sharing a large video recording with your friends via social media, freeing up the space of smartphones, or you’re sending a long video by mail, compressing your original video file with a decent MP4 compressor is a must.
With that in mind, I’ve collected 16 of the best free video compression software that let you compress MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, AVI files as well as 4K videos recorded by drones, DSLRs, iPhones, or other devices.However, online video compressors tend to have high reliance on your network environment. And the majority of them only allow you to get an output of MP4 files.
List of 16 Best Video Compressor Software (MP4 Compressor)
1. VideoProc Converter
- Overall best: the fastest and easiest option, average 2% CPU usage, a huge array of extra features…
- Compression ratio: over 95% | Picture quality: no visible loss | Performance: 99% | Compress: MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, VOB, 4K, HEVC, 120FPS, ProRes, and 420+ formats

Frankly speaking, VideoProc Converter is currently the best video compression software available for Windows and Mac. Thanks to a self-explained UI and a variety of useful presets, shrinking the video files over 90% of the original size needs nothing more than a few simple clicks.
It provides you with all regular and advanced methods to compress large videos efficiently, including converting to a more efficient codec, decreasing the frame rate, downscaling the resolution, increasing the GOP length, and more.
Moreover, it adopts the latest x265 encoding technique and the max-quality compression engine. It can automatically balance the video file size against the expected picture quality. These ensure users can reduce file size while retaining the original quality.
In addition to its standout video compression features, this best video compression software can serve as a UHD HD video converter to help you convert video codecs and formats up to 8K resolution.
Reasons to Use:
- Cover all working compression methods to compress your videos.
- Keep the maximum picture quality. Adopt the latest x265 encoding technique.
- Allow refined and flexible control for both the audio and video properties.
- 47x faster than real-time play, powered by level-3 GPU acceleration tech.
- Full-featured editing suite including deshaking, denoising, rotating, etc.
Reasons to Avoid:
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
VideoProc Converter can compress dozens of large 4K videos into a few megabyte files within minutes. During the short compression process, I had no problem to use Premiere Pro and other programs that devour tons of space.
It’s also rated as the best video compressor by dessign.net and many famous sites.
2. FFmpeg
- Best free video compressor for the advanced controls
- Compression ratio: 20% ~ 80% (depend on the command line you input) | Picture quality: relatively good | Performance: 60% | Compress: MP4, MOV, MKV, and other popular formats

FFmpeg is a piece of open-source and cross-platform audio and video processing software. It’s an excellent choice for advanced users who want a powerful tool to manipulate the compression ratio, the output quality, the option of the QSV, and other settings without restrictions. Unfortunately, FFmpeg performs all tasks through the command lines.
This free video compression software requires you to input the correct command line to reduce the video bitrate, downscale video resolution, crop videos, mute audio, etc. The absence of the regular GUI might make once bright-eyed newbies feel hopeless.
Reasons to Use:
- Supports a vast number of input and output formats.
- Few restrictions on the functionality.
Reasons to Avoid:
- A steep learning curve.
- File compression takes a long time.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
From compressing your video to a small size to editing the audio length, there are many uses of this convenient video compression tool. However, if you’re a newcomer like me, then be ready to spend lots of time learning how to install FFmpeg and what is the right command to compress an MP4 video with FFmpeg.
3. HandBrake
- Best free video compressor software for cross-platform users
- Compression ratio: around 80% | Picture quality: relatively good | Performance: 75% | Compress: MP4, MKV, WebM, and a few more formats

If you’ve used HandBrake, then you’ve undoubtedly heard about how jampacked this cross-platform and free video compressor is.
Based on FFmpeg, this free video reducer enables you to compress video from all popular codecs including MP4, AVI, MOV, H.264, HEVC, etc. It offers you full control over video parameters, and that sounds nice.
However, beginners are always advised to stick with HandBrake preset options. Why? You’ll have to climb a steep learning curve before you can apply customized settings on a video to shrink its size without A/V out-of-sync problems, missing audio, or other errors.
Reasons to Use:
- Free and open-source.
- A plethora of tutorials are accessible.
- Excellent compression ratio.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Only allow you to export video(s) in MKV, WebM, and MP4 format.
- Too difficult to master if you are a first time user.
- Slow compression speed and high CPU usage.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of the things that I love most about this free video compression tool is it gives lots of video conversion profiles and presets, with which everyone can easily compress or convert video files for Discord Nitro, YouTube, Vimeo, and several other platforms and devices.
4. Shutter Encoder
- Best free video compressor software that can color grade videos

Shutter Encoder is a powerful and feature-rich video converter developed by a group of passionate video editors. While there isn’t a button specially designed for compressing video files, users can compress video to the wanted size with settings options for resolution, bitrate, file size, resolution, etc.
You also get loads of editing, converting, and downloading options, like the ability to add fade-in/out effects, put subtitles/watermarks, apply LUTs, and change video length, download videos from websites.
The range of Shutter Encoder’s input and output formats is very impressive, including AV1, HEVC, VP9, and GoPro CineForm. The interface might be a little bit intimidating for the first-time user, but it’s well worth the time spent learning it.
Reasons to Use:
- Support editing friendly codecs like QT Animation and GoPro CineForm.
- Free of charge. No ads or watermark.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Can’t compress multiple videos with different output settings.
- A confusing UI that’s hard to navigate
- 99%+ high CPU usage.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
As mentioned, Shutter Encoder is hard for beginners to get to grip with. However, if you are looking into how to make a video smaller by converting its format to AV1, then this free video compression software might be the best choice. It’s one of a few video compression tools in the market that supports the input and output of AV1.
5. Freemake Video Converter
- Best free video compressor that can create slideshow videos
- Compression ratio: around 80% | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 50% | Compress: popular formats

Freemake Video Converter used to be my favorite video compressor. However, this Windows-only video compression app hasn’t received any update since 2017. Thus, many new but important features are missing in this phased-out video compression software.
Here I take some examples. It’s hard to set a high video or audio compression ratio in Freemake Video Converter. H.265 and VP9 are not supported. It provides you with some presets, but only matches with iPhone 5, iPhone 4, and things before 2017.
Reasons to Use:
- Easy Interface.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Mac users can’t make utilization of Freemake Video Converter.
- Lack of preset for recent devices.
- Frequently crashes.
- The final video comes with a big Freemake watermark.
- HEVC, VP9, and many popular formats are absent.
- The anti-virus program reminds me Freemake Video Converter is bundled with malware.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Freemake Video Converter seems to have some incompatible issues when compressing ultra-high resolution videos. I tested 10 clips of 4K videos and 15 clips of 8K videos on it. (The testing videos come with length from 1:30min to 3min). Everytime, Freemake Video Converter got stuck when finished the process of 60% to 85%.
6. Any Video Converter
- Best free video compressor software that can burn DVDs
- Compression ratio: 60% ~ 90% | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 70% | Compress: 100+ video and audio formats

Any Video Converter is a multiple-function video shrink app with a very easy-to-navigate interface and a number of presets. It’s a good option for beginners who want to quickly compress or convert CDs and videos for playing or uploading on iOS, Android, Microsoft, and Sony products, etc.
Any Video Converter supports the import of 200+ video and audio formats, which is a huge number. Another big plus of this capable MP4 compressor is it can take advantage of CUDA and NVIDIA GPU acceleration technology to compress videos. In other words, this amazing MP4 video compressor can process your video files smoothly on a mid-range PC or Mac.
Reasons to Use:
- Support batch conversion.
- Custom video aspect ratio, frame rate, and constant quality.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Lack of extra features.
- Encounter repeated failures when compressing 4K videos.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Any Video Converter can make use of the graphics card to compress videos, speeding up the compression process and avoiding high CPU usage. It would be my first choice if it gives up reminding me to pay the $9.99 annual subscription fee after each compression work.
7. VLC media player
- Best free video compressor software that can play 4K large videos smoothly
- Compression ratio: around 85% | Picture quality: good | Performance: 48% | Compress: AVI, ASF, WMA, MP4, OGG, VOB, MP3, FLAC, and more

Unbeknownst to some, the VLC media player is a cross-platform and multiple media player on Mac, Windows, and Linux that does more than play videos and music. It can also serve as robust video compression software for reducing the file size of MP4, AVI, MKV, and MOV videos.
On the plus side, this full-featured tool provides you with ready-make options, like H.265+ MP3, H.264 +AAC, and you’re on your own to decide the desired video codec, audio codec, frame rate, bitrate, and other properties.
However, the compressed videos sometimes have A/V out-of-sync and black screen issues. Too many important features are hidden in the menu, making it one of the most sophisticated video compressors.
Reasons to Use:
- A wide range of input formats.
- Lower CPU usage rate when compared with Handbrake.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Slow compression speed.
- Difficult jargon.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
VLC media player’s capability to compress large videos surprised me a bit. It uses 85% on average of my CPU resources to compress an H.264 video to an HEVC file.
Yes, it definitely falls behind VideoProc Converter that takes only 6% computer resources. However, it does surpass HandBrake video compressor by saving on average 5% CPU usage, in this case.
8. QuickTime Player
- Best free video compressor on Mac for the screen recording capability
- Compression ratio: around 70% | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 35% | Compress: Some AVI and WAV formats and the majority of MPEG formats

QuickTime Player isn’t a typical video compressor software, but it still gets the job when you simply need to reduce the size of your video and not care so much about the quality, this easy MP4 compressor from Apple Inc. can get the job done perfectly.
Reasons to Use:
- Easy and free to use.
Reasons to Avoid:
- No access to define the parameters to a specific value.
- All videos compressed by QuickTime Player will turn to MP4 format.
- High CPU usage rate and extremely slow compression process.
- Sometimes it can’t read HEVC, VP9, AV1, and other videos in the advanced codec.
Rating:⭐
The picture quality always rolled downhill after being compressed by QuickTime Player. Even worse, this free video compressor on Mac can’t read my HEVC videos.
9. iMovie
- Best free video compressor for basic editing tools
- Compression ratio: 30%+ | Picture quality: relatively bad | Performance: 20% | Compress: MP4, MOV, M4A, H.264, AVCHD, Apple ProRes, and more

iMovie is the go-to choice for macOS and iOS users to make simple edits. It doesn’t come with the compression command, and you can’t customize the video parameters.
The good thing is, though it doesn’t let you dig into settings much further, iMovie allows you to assign different quality grades to your video when exporting. To put it plainly, you can throw up a video to iMovie, skip the editing steps, and pick up a relatively lower resolution, bitrate, and quality grade to get the job done. Like most other Apple software, iMovie has poor compatibility. Note: this free video compression app cannot compress MKV videos and many relatively rare video formats.
Reasons to Use:
- Allow you to trim, cut, and crop to compress video.
- Estimate the final compressed file size and length.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Take over 90% of the CPU resource.
- A high compression ratio always brings visible quality loss.
- Can’t customize the parameters for video compression.
Rating:⭐
iMovie is limited in comparison to most other Windows and Mac video compressors covered in this post. But for the overall performance, iMovie is stable and fast.
10. Windows Movie Maker
- Best free video compressor on Windows 7 with the direct options for Vimeo, YouTube, and other sites
- Compression ratio: around 70% | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 60% | Compress: MP2, MPEG2, H264, MP4, WMA, WMA, and more

I have to be honest here, Windows Movie Maker is known to have limited capabilities regardless you are using it as a video editing software or a video compression software. It can’t compress AV1, VP8/VP9, HEVC, and many trendy video formats. Whether you feed in the MKV, AVI, MOV, or other files, you’ll get H.264 MP4 or WMV files after compression.
Regardless, I felt the need to mention it on this list because it is pre-installed on every Windows 7 computer and used to be one of the most popular and convenient MP4 compressor software for free. You’ll be able to take advantage of the GPU acceleration tech to speed up the video compression process.
Reasons to Use:
- Support hardware acceleration.
- Free and easy to use.
- Allow basic video editing.
- Instantly share your content on Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Group, and other social media.
Reasons to Avoid:
- No more available on Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11.
- Support the output of MP4 and WMV formats only.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
This great video compressor for PC displays the estimated video file size when you select an exported file type which is very helpful for beginners get avoid choosing the wrong file type.
11. Shotcut
- Best free video compressor with a customizable interface
- Compression ratio: around 85% | Picture quality: relatively good | Performance: 70% | Compress: popular video, audio, and image formats

In the experienced hands, Shotcut can be used to make some serious video compression work. In addition to the impressive features in editing videos, it supports nearly every major video and audio codec and has a great compression ratio.
Almost everything you can do about compressing a video with a professional video compressor can get accomplished in Shotcut, though very possibly in a memory consuming and cumbersome way.
It does provide you with the Preset tab when exporting the video, however, it just lists up the supported codec, as like, HEVC main profile and H.264 baseline, with little attempt to explain the jargon. These complicated terminologies are also making the adjustments on video parameters for decreeing video file size a process of error and trial for beginners.
- Open source and free.
- The compression ratio is on par with some professional video converters.
- Give full control over codec, bitrate, resolution, and GOP, etc.
- As an NLE video editor, it provides a professional video editing toolset.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Require quite a bit of education and training prior to use.
- CPU and memory hog.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just like any other NLE video editors that have timelines, you’ll have to take some exploration to master all its nifty features. The first time I used Shotcut to compress a 4K 42Mbs video, the result busted up to 89Mbs. But after I realized where the error happen and corrected it, everything went flawlessly.
12. Freeconvert
- Best online video compressor that can compress up to 1GB video file
- Compression ratio: around 45% | Picture quality: good | Performance: 70% | Compress: MP4, WebM, FLV, MKV, and 300+ other video formats

For those of you wishing to compress videos without installing extra video compressor software, Freeconvert is for you. This free online video compressor app enables you to compress MP4, AVI, MKV, or other video files from your local drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or video URL to MP4, FLV, MKV, AVI, MOV, or 3GP file.
It lets you compress a video by adjusting the size, changing the maximum bitrate, or tuning the picture quality. For instance, if the source file is 100 MB, choose Compress video by size, and set up Reduce the file size by 50%, theoretically, you’ll make it shrank to 50MB.
However, Freeconvert doesn’t guarantee you a smaller result. When I added up a 26MB MP4 H.264 file to the Freeconvert video compressor, and choose to reduce the size by 1%, I finally got a 36MB compressed file which was bigger than the source. Another slightly vexing issue is the free Freeconvert video compressor doesn’t allow you to compress video with a size larger than 1GB.
Reasons to Use:
- Allow you to compress the majority of videos.
- Compress video by size, bitrate, or quality.
- Utterly easy to use.
Reasons to Avoid:
- The compression speed totally depends on your network environment.
- No for compressing large videos.
- Only support the HEVC and H.264 encoder.
- Might enlarge your source video file.
- Pop-up ads.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐
If I have to choose one online video compressor, Freeconvert will be my option. Freeconvert video compressor is more generous than the majority of online video compression software. The largest video file you can compress with it is up to 1GB. Better yet, it’s completely free.
13. OnlineConverter
- Best online video compressor for easy UI
- Compression ratio: around 60% (depends on the assigned output file size) | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 60% | Compress: MP4, MPG, 3GP, GIF, WMV, and many more

OnlineConverter video compressor is the epitome of simplicity. Once you import a video to this free online video compressor, you can enter the desired file size, and then hit Compress. That’s it. The drawback? It doesn’t leave you any room to customize the basic video parameters.
The supported video size is 200MB at maximum. While the OnlineConverter video compressor allows compressing MP4, AVI, FLV, MOV, 3GP, MKV, WMV, and many other videos, it accepts the output of MP4 video only. This means everything will turn to MP4 video after compression.
Reasons to Use:
- Everything is in a few clicks.
- Compress different kinds of formats.
- Free compress video files right from your browser.
Reasons to Avoid:
- Only enable you to compress a video by entering the desired file size.
- Bitrate, resolution, and other video parameters are neither visible nor customizable.
- Slow compression speed under a bad network connection.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐
Personally, I don’t like its 80-style interface. And I don’t know about you, but what’s the purpose of a piece of compression software that can’t compress large video at all?
14. MP4Compress
- Best online free MP4 compressor for compressing MP4 video files under 500MB
- Compression ratio: 40%~60% | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 20% | Compress: MP4 format

MP4Compress is an online MP4 compressor that attempts to help you compress MP4 files while keeping the good picture quality. Compared to all the nominated video compressors in this list, MP4Compress is perhaps the easiest option.
To use it, all things you have to do is import a video and hit Upload Video File. As you might already expect, this MP4 compressor doesn’t offer you options to select the compression ratio, bitrate, resolution, or other properties for your purpose.
However, don’t worry too much. In most cases, it should satisfy your demand. I tested the compression capability of MP4Compress with some MP4 videos, and most of them were reduced to 40% ~ 75% of their original size.
Reasons to Use:
- One-click to compress videos.
- Free to use without pop-up ads.
- Good compression ratio.
- This online MP4 compressor runs on Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Linux…
Reasons to Avoid:
- Can’t set up a more optimal compression ratio or picture quality.
- As an MP4 compressor, it won’t work to compress MKV, AVI, MOV…
Rating:⭐
No ads, and not require registration to use. MP4compressor works like many online picture compressors, limited but efficient.
15. 8mb.Video
- Best online video compressor for making a video smaller than 8MB, 50MB, or 100MB
- Compression ratio: around 70% (depends on the specified the intended file size) | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 50% | Compress: all widely-used video formats

8MB.Video is an easy-to-use and watermark-free online video compressor for Discord. It’s specialized in making a video less than 8MB, 50MB, and 100MB. Thus, if you intend to compress videos under 2GBs for sending on Discord, it might be your best bet. Worry about the privacy threat issue? Then you’d be glad to see 8MB.Video’s promises that all the videos you upload to its server would be deleted after 20 minutes. However, the 5-minute upload length limit makes it useless for compressing long videos, such as DVD music videos and movie recaps.
Reasons to Use:
- No watermark or ads.
- 0 learning curve.
- 2GBs of the size limit.
- This online video compressor runs on Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Linux…
Reasons to Avoid:
- No custom compression options.
- 5 minutes of limit in length.
- Compress large video with terrible quality loss.
- Can’t compress video to MKV, AVI, and MOV…
Rating:⭐⭐⭐
Though the input video file size can be up to 2GB, 8MB video compressor often goes crashes when loading or compressing videos that are large in size, resolution, or frame rate.
16. Zamzar
- Best online video compressor for the ads-free UI
- Compression ratio: unknown | Picture quality: bad | Performance: 30% | Compress: 3GP, MP4, AVI, M2TS, and more

Zamzar possesses the ability to compress and convert video, audio, image, document, ebook, and archive files. It has an easy-to-navigate and ads-free interface, in which a video can be added by dragging or adding a link.
Video files up to 50 MB are compressed for free, larger videos need you to purchase their paid plan. For example, you can purchase its business plan (which costs $25 per month) to increase the size limit to 2GB. Zamzar doesn’t give extra options to control the compression settings. It won’t display the estimated file size after compression. Thus, it’s not a good option for users who want to compress video to under a specific size.
Reasons to use:
- Ads- and watermark-free.
- Easy for beginners to use.
- This web video compressor runs on Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Linux…
Reasons to avoid:
- Only compress AVI, MOV, and MP4 files.
- Paid to compress a video that exceeds 50MB.
- Too limited compression features.
Rating:⭐
I used several clips to test the compression ratio and overall performance of Zamzar. However, all ends up with failure. It recognized my 4K videos but always compressed them to wrong size (about 1KB). When coping with my MOV MPEG4 or MP4 H.264 video files, it returns the error message: Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to compress your file to a smaller size.