Top 20 Best Free Video Compression Software for Windows/macOS

Here we gather and review top 20 free video compression software for Windows(10) & macOS. Some are open source video transcoder & compressor, such as Handbrake, some are free online video compressor tools, some are free open source video editor and compression tools. Choose the best free video compression software your prefer to shrink video size without losing quality. Each program comes with detailed guide on how to compress a video Windows 10 or macOS.

Hot search: 15 Best Video Converters to Convert and Compress Video Files

Best Free Video Compression Software – Compress GBs to MBs without Quality Loss

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe – Compress HD/4K videos from GBs to MBs: 64% size reduction for 4K UHD, 62% off for 1080p, 56% off for 720p. Easily compress MP4, MKV, MOV, MTS, AVI, iPhone, GoPro, Drone videos to smaller file size for YouTube, Instagram, FB, Email, mobile devices, cloud storage, etc.

There are various flexible options to make videos smaller: convert videos to advanced codecs like HEVC, lower 4K 2160p to 1080p/720p, change CBR to VBR, frame rate 60FPS to 30FPS, cut off clips from video to shorten video length, etc. The High Quality Engine is built into the free video compressor software to guarantee minimum quality degradation (roughly 2% quality loss) and the GPU (Intel QSV/AMD/Nvidia) hardware acceleration will make 8K/4K/2K video compression smooth and fast without eating up your CPU or crashing laptop.

Free Download for Win 7 or later

Free Download for Mac OS X 10.6 or later

Top 10 Free Video Compression Software for Windows 10

#1. WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe

Reasons to Download

• Compress video from GB to MB without noticeable quality loss
• Fast and stable video shrinking process, low CPU usage

Reasons to Avoid

• Only offer basic video editing features

Overview: WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe tops the list of the free 4K/HD video compressor for Windows 10/11/8/7. It can reduce video file size with the best balance between video quality and file size thanks to HQ engine, hardware acceleration support, and advanced compression algorithm. It’s the best for those who want to compress high-resolution videos while care about the quality. The High Quality Engine guarantees minimum quality degradation (roughly 2% quality loss) and the hardware acceleration makes the video compression process smooth and stable without crashing, stuttering, or jerky. The latest version of the free video compression software for Windows 10 added H/W decoding for 10-bit and 12-bit HDR video compression.

Key Features

• Reduce 90% video size. The intraframe and interframe coding algorithms, and advanced entropy encoding tech maximumly reduce (4K 2160p) video size by up to 90%.
• Compress large videos by adjusting bit rate (CBR to VBR), frame rate 60FPS to 30FPS, 4K to 1080p, trimming, cropping, and more.
• The High Quality Engine can further improve the output compressed video quality.
• 370+ codecs supported! Compress and convert MP4, MKV, M2TS, AVI, WMV, MOV, H264, videos recorded by any cameras.
• Fast high quality compression speed. Level-3 hardware acceleration Intel QSV, NVIDIA CUDA/NVENC and AMD VCE ensures fast speed compressing 8K, 4K, 1080P, 720P videos.

#2. HandBrake

Reasons to Download

• Free and open source
• Various video compression settings and good compression efficiency

Reasons to Avoid

• Complicated settings for beginners

Overview: Handbrake is known as one of the best open-source video transcoder tools, which also works as free video compression software for Windows 10. It enables users to compress video size on Windows 10 without losing quality by lowering down video bit range, frame rate, resolution, resizing, and changing video codec format, together with rich video and audio setting options. The top-rated free video compressor software accepts whatever videos you import, covering MP4, MKV, HEVC, H.264, VP8, VP9, Theora, and more. Handbrake General Presets also includes outputs for different devices, software, processing speed, total bit rate, and file size, such as Fast1080p30, Super HQ 1080p30 Surround.

If you compress a 4K 2160P video to 1080p, the compression speed can be slow on an old computer that doesn’t meet hardware acceleration requirements. Video encoder quality vs video file size efficiency, ranked worst to best: VP8, AMD/Intel QSV/NVIDIA NVENC hardware encoder, x264, x265, and VP9. Handbrake shows good video compression efficiency, however, it becomes complicated for beginners to figure out its video and audio setting adjustment.

To get better video compression performance on Windows 10, make sure you update to the latest version of Handbrake – 1.4.0 released on July 18, 2021. The new version of free video compression software for Windows support native 10 and 12-bit video encoding, including HDR10 metadata passthru. You’ll get improved hardware accelerated video compression performance on Intel QuickSync, AMD VCN and Qualcomm ARM devices.

Key Features

• Compress videos in virtually all formats. Load any videos to the compressor without worrying about the formats.
• Provide rich setting options to help compress video size, including video dimensions, codec, frame rate, bitrate, quality and so much more.
• Compress large videos in MP4, MKV with H.264, H.265, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VP8, VP9 and Theora.
• Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD hardware acceleration supported to provide fast video compression speed.

3. Freemake Video Converter

Reasons to Download

• Support 500+ video formats
• Flexible control on video audio settings for smaller file size

Reasons to Avoid

• 4K video compression is slow
• No support for HEVC and AV1 codec

Overview: Freemake Video Converter is the go-to free video compression software for Windows 10 if you are looking for tools to compress videos to other formats. It can handle up to 500+ formats and gadgets and easily compress MKV, MP4, etc. to HEVC H.265, AV1, H.264, more. The free video compressor software offers versatile control on video and audio parameter settings to compress video size on Windows 10, for example, tweak video frame size, bitrate, frame rate, and more for smaller video file size. It’s also a good way to cut out unwanted video parts to compress video size, luckily, Freemake comes with such a feature.

Freemake video compressor software fully supports 4K, Full HD 1080p, and HD 720p files from HD cameras, camcorders, and Blu-ray. But without hardware acceleration, 4K/HD videos compression can be slow on Windows 10 or other lower end devices, especially if you want to compress videos to advanced codecs like HEVC and AV1. Slow video compression speed is a big cons. Some users reported that the free video compression software for Windows 10 failed to work on WIndows 10. It puts a watermark on the output compressed video. We did’t find any video compression improvement on Windows 10 with the new version.

Key Features

• Flexible video audio parameter settings to adjust frame size, frame rate, bitrate, and more to compress video.
• Cut video to compress video size. This is also a good way to shrink video and Freemake comes with such a feature.
• Support up to 500+ formats and gadgets, easily compress MKV, MP4, etc. to HEVC H.265, AV1, H.264, more.
• Support 4K, Full HD 1080p, and HD 720p files from HD cameras, camcorders and Blu-ray. But without hardware acceleration, compressing 4K/HD videos can be slow, especially if you want to compress videos to advanced codecs like HEVC and AV1.

4. FFmpeg

Reasons to Download

• Free and open source
• Video compression efficiency can be high

Reasons to Avoid

• Requires deep learning curve for beginners

Overview: FFmpeg is the best go-to free compressor software for WIndows 10 that can compress video size from GBs to MBs without losing much quality. FFmpeg uses command lines to do the video, audio, and other multimedia settings, such as bit rate, frame rate, container format, codec format, to name a few. The Constant Rate factor (CRF) is the quality setting by default for x264 and x265 encoding. The higher the value, the higher the compression, and more quality loss. The video compression software free can compress a video file from 1 GB to 30 MB.

Below are commands with ffmpeg to compress MP4 video file on Windows 10 and final video size results.

1. ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 out.mp4, 2 GB to 380 Mb, great quality
2. ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -s 1280×720 -acodec copy -y output.mp4, 1 Gb to 25 MB, acceptable quality
3. ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 1000k -acodec mp3 output.mp4, 1 Gb to 15 Mb, very poor quality

The video compression command line requires a deep learning curve for non-tech savvy users. The free video compression software for Windows 10 may output an even larger file size if you enter an improper command line for codecs, bitrate, container, and fps. Many users are confused about its CRF value, codec, fps, and other settings. Setting the -maxrate and -bufsize to lower down the bit rate and the result is not satisfying. The range of the CRF value is from 0 to 51, 0 is lossless and 51 is the worst quality but the smallest video file size. A lower value of CRF means higher quality but larger file size. Increasing the CRF value +6 result in half of the video file size on Windows 10.

Key Features

• Compress video size from GB to MB without quality loss by dividing target size (in bits) by the video length (in seconds) or setting the video to Constant Rate Factor (CRF) which will lower the average bit rate but with better quality.
• Based on libavcodec, FFmpeg can compress videos to MP4, AV1, HEVC H.265, H.264, VP9, WMV, most other codecs.
• Easily modify the bit rate, video screen size, change profile to baseline, etc.

5. Any Video Converter

Reasons to Download

• Easy to use
• No ads, no watermark of free version

Reasons to Avoid

• 100% CPU usage when compressing large (4K) videos

Any Video Converter Freeware is another best video compressor software for Windows 10 that lets you compress videos (including HD and 4K videos) free with limits. No ads, no malware, no watermark. The program supports NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, Intel QSV hardware acceleration, making the video compression process faster. It’s very easy to use – does not require much advanced knowledge of codecs and video parameters for video compression. It has intuitive interface and user friendly.

However, some users reported that it runs almost 100 percent cpu and memory, which is terrible. If you need to do some compression with DVDs, you should pay $49.95 for its advanced version to get DVD functions. The free video compressor software for Windows 10 doesn’t work with webm files. The highest bit-rate is 160kp, which has side effect on the output video quality. It comes with adware. When installing the tool, keep your eyes open to avoid installing anti-virus software or other adware. There’s no update in the recent two years.

Key Features

• Support 100+ inputs, 160+ outputs. Easily compress videos to HEVC codec.
• Crop, trim, adjust the video codecs, dimension, bitrate, frame rate, sample rate, channel, video/audio quality, and more.
• Fast MP4 video compression speed with the support to NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, Intel QSV hardware acceleration.

#6. VLC media player

Reasons to Download

• Support a wide range of video formats
• Direct3D11 and DirectX hardware acceleration

Reasons to Avoid

• Lack of video compression options
• A bit complicated for beginners

Overview: VLC media player is the most welcomed free and open source cross-platform multimedia player that also can work as free video compression software. It’s able to shrink videos by converting videos to more advanced codec, lowerding down video resolution, bit rate, and frame rate. Direct3D11 and DirectX hardware accelerated decoding is supported. VLC supports a wide range of formats, including HEVC and other efficient codecs. All these features makes VLC handle 4K vdeo compression better.

The newer version of VLC Media Player, V3.0.17, added support for more formats and fix a D3D11 crash when changing resolution for smaller size on Windows 10. It also improved HEVC hardware decoding on Windows 10. Update to the latest version of the free video compressor software for Windows 10 to enjoy much better compression performance.

You’d better know that VLC can cut video length in a complicated way – recording. It’s not a professional free video compressor, don’t expect a lot of video compression features or good output quality. The video compression feature is not well designed. It’s not easy to get started for beginners who may fail to find out hidden compression features.

Key Features

• Support large videos in almost any formats.
• Compress videos to H.265 HEVC, VP9, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, etc. in a wide range of video containers.
• Basic options to adjust codec, bitrate, quality, resolutions, and more.
• Support Direct3D11 and DirectX hardware accelerated decoding.

#7. XMedia Recode

Reasons to Download

• Support tons of video formats

Reasons to Avoid

• Few video compression options
• Can’t run on Windows 11, macOS

Overview: XMedia Recode is a simple and free video compressor for Windows 7, 8.1, 8, 10. It supports a wide range of video formats, including advanced codecs H.265, VP9 to help compress videos to a more efficient codec with smaller size. Multiple video compression is supported as well. The latest version is XMedia Recode 3.5.5.5 that comes with update of ffmpeg, AOM AV1 (3.3.0)/x264/SVT-AV1 codec.

Without true GPU hardware acceleration, compress high-resolution 4K videos will take quite a longer time. The video compression software free is not available for Windows 11 and macOS. If you are looking for free video compressor for Windows 11 or macOS, you have to resort to other tools. Its interface is somehow intimidating, with complicated and unfriendly settings. The newer version crashes more frequently, particularly when compressing HD video file. Its instability and bugs are most complained by Xmedia Recode users. It could take a few hours to finish a 1.5GB video compression on Windows, which is much slower than other free video compressor do.

Key Features

• Options to adjust video and audio parameters video codec, video bitrate, audio bitrate, frame size, scaling, resolution, fps.
• It works like Handbrake with all the advanced filtering options that only Handbrake has, such as cropping, rotating, deinterlacing, and more.

#8. VSDC Free Video Converter

Reasons to Download

• Free and easy to use

Reasons to Avoid

• The interface is ugly
• Doesn’t support HEVC, VP9

Overview: VSDC Free Video Converter is simple and free video compression software for Windows only. You can compress videos by formats converting and basic editing. For example, you can get smaller video file size by converting it to other codec formats, deleting any fragment of a video. It does what a video converter does to make video file size smaller – cut, convert, trim. You can simply reduce video size by cutting on Windows without much quality loss. It can compress a 1GB video to 650MB with acceptable quality.

It seems to be an old video transcoder and compressor that lacks update. The interface is ugly and advanced video codec like HEVC is not supported. The free video compressor for Windoes doesn’t support GPU acceleration, meaning that it lags when compressing 4K/HD video size on Windows 10 or lower end Windows device. The developers of VSDC now focus on VSDC Free Video Editor instead of video converter. You have other much better choices if you need a free video compressor, such as HD Video Converter Deluxe, Handbrake.

Key Features

• It has a huge number of presets covering all formats and multimedia devices. However, it doesn’t support any newer codecs like HEVC, VP9, or others that have higher efficiency.
• It’s easy to split it up into several parts and delete any fragment of a video.
• It applies high-quality video processing algorithm for high quality and multiple processors for fast speed.

#9. Free Video Compressor

Reasons to Download

• A few choices for video compression

Reasons to Avoid

• .NET Framework is required

Overview: Free Video Compressor is lightweight free video compression freeware for Windows 11/10/8/7. It supports compressing videos formatted in MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, MKV, FLV, RMVB, RM, etc. The Desired Video Size option is quite useful and straightforward. The video file size settings are appreciated, such as file size, bitrate, duration, format, width and height(resolution). The cutting feature allows you to set the video star time and end time. Direclty short the video length to compress videos on Windows 10/8/7. The free video compression software supports aspect ratios 4:3, 1:1, 16:10, and 16:9. The aspect ratio options are useful for those who want to compress videos on Windows for uploading to YouTube, Instagram, Whatsapp, and other social media websites.

It uses a static build from the FFmpeg project. .NET Framework is required to run the free video compression for Windows (Version 1.0). Don’t expect stable video compression process from the program. It crashes easily when compressing 4K UHD video files. There’s no evidence that it’s a GPU accelerated free video compressor for Windows 10.

Key Features

• Compress MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, MKV, FLV, and videos in other commonly used video formats.
• Offer Desired Video Size option for one click straightforward free video compression.
• Change video bitrate, video format, audio format, video aspect ratio, etc. for smaller video size.
• The free video compressor software supports 4:3, 1:1, 16:10, and 16:9.

#10. WinZip

Reasons to Download

• Zip and unzip video files for sharing, uploading, and emailing
• Compress and share video files to iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and ZipShare

Reasons to Avoid

• The source video file size remains the same

Platform: Windows, macOS.

Overview: WinZip is also video compression software for Windows 10/11 that can zip and compress video files and video files folder to make it easier to send and share. You can compress videos in a wide range or formats, such as MP4, AVI, MKV, WMV, etc. It zips video files instantly to shrink file size without losing quality. This free video compressor for Windows works for sharing, uploading, and emailing. It offers access to share compressed/zipped video files directly to iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and ZipShare.

Files can be protected with banking-level AES encryption. To use the free video compressor tool, select the video file or folder you’d like to compress, click Add to Zip, and choose a folder to save your shrinked video files. It has macOS version WinZip 9 Mac. Note that the video compression software free has virus behaviors and requires manual deletion of video files. The zipping way can’t compress MP4 H.264 videos files much further. Its higher-tier version is not cheap.

Key Features

• One-stop video file compression and management software.
• Compress video files and video file folder in a click.
• Support unzipping more than 17 file formats, zip, encrypt, and share files.

Top 10 Free Video Compression Software for macOS

#1. iMovie

Reasons to Download

• Straightforward compression options

Reasons to Avoid

• Limited compression features

Platform: macOS (macOS Monterey and earlier)

Overview: iMovie can also serve as free video compression software for macOS. By changing video export settings such as resolution and quality, your video size can be reduced without losing much quality. The resolution and quality settings are availabe on export settings. You can lower 4K or 1080p videos down to 720p, or even lower for smaller file size. Quality settings offer Best, High, Low options. Best means the largest video file size. Keep a good balance between quality and file size according to your needs. Select the video file in the finder and in column view, you should see the exact size of the video file you want to compress.

This free video compressor software is limited to two video tracks. The video formats it accepts are also only friendly with Apple system, such as MOV, M4V. If you want to compress WMV, AVI, or other Windows video formats, you have to switch to other tools. Designed as a video editor for Mac, it may be a bit complicated for novice users to get started.

Key Features

• Support compressing 720p SD, 1080P HD, 4K UHD videos with ease.
• Lower down video resolution and video quality to reduce video size.
• Offer estimated compressed video file size.
• Support various types of video and audio formats.

#2. QuickTime Player

Reasons to Download

• Compress 4K, 1080P to 720p, 480p

Reasons to Use

• Limited video compression options

Platform: macOS (Mojave and earlier)

Overview: If you are looking for free video compression software for macOS, try QuickTime Player that can serve as a default video compressor for macOS. QuickTime Player can cut down video size easily. It can compress videos to 720p, 480p, lower resolution and bitrate to get smaller video file size. Open QuickTime Player, click File > Export As…, there’s a list of video resolutions. Choose the lowest resolution for the smallest video size, rename your video and choose a location to save it, done! Since it’s a built-in Mac app, the output video file is formatted with MOV.

As mentioned above, you can only get resulted video file in MOV format. The format limit is a big issue if you want to work with the video on Windows and Android devices. Unlike VLC Media Player that has feature rich videoc compression features, QuickTime Player is limited to lower down video resolution to reduce video file size. You can’t even cut, trim video length.

Key Features

• Compress MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, H.264, MPEG4, HEVC, etc. free on Mac.
• Compress and convert videos from 4K, 1080P to 720p, 480p for smaller video size.
• Only offers options to cut video file size down by lowering down video resolution.
• Output videos in MOV format.

#3. Final Cut Pro X Compressor

Reasons to Download

• High video compression efficiency
• Support HDR, HEVC, 360 video, MXF

Reasons to Avoid

• Complicated for noice users

Platform: macOS (Monterey and earlier)

Overview: Final Cut Pro X Compressor is the best video compression software for macOS. It integrates with Final Cut Pro to compress videos to HDR, HEVC, 360 video, MXF, etc. with high performance and efficiency. It’s designed to compress video and audio files when you are producing a lot of work for different people or formats, or if you are trying to master your work for specific formats. Batch video compression is well supported. Workinng as free video compressor for macOS, bit has uilt in camera LUTs for Panasonic, Sony, Canon, Blackmagic, Nikon and ARRI or add a custom camera LUT. Video compression performance and efficiency can improved on Mac computers with Apple silicon.

The new Compressor 4.1 has better interface and adds hardware encoding for H.264 and Dolby Digital Plus. The free video compressor software for Mac lags from time to time, particularly when you compress and export a large video file on Mac. Sometimes, it crashes while exporting files. All the compression settings and preferences can be a bit cumbersom for the first to get to. The program only export Apple’s format. Want export and ecode videos to Windows, such as WMV, AVI, and Adobe’s FLV? You’ll be disappointed with this free video compressor for Mac.

Key Features

• There is a batch encoder to produce different sizes for a specific video all at once.
• Supports high-quality output like 4K, HDR, and 360 degrees.
• Compress video video file size quickly without quality loss.

#4. Finder

Reasons to Use

• Compress videos for email, sharing, and storage saving

Reasons to Avoid

• The source video file size remains untouched

Platform: macOS (macOS Monterey and earlier)

Overview: If you are tired of downloading free video compressor software on macOS, try Finder. It allows Mac users to zip video files to get much smaller file size without losing quality. The zip way to make video size smaller is suitable for emailing, sharing, uploading, and storage saving. It supports Apple video formats such as MOV, MP4, M4V, etc. Compared to video compressor software or web-based services, it’s easy, fast, and there’s no file size limit. Zipping is a type of lossless data compression method.

However, if you unzip the video, the video file is as large as the source video file. You have no control on the final video file size and no options to change video length, resolution, bitrate, etc. The compression ratio could let you down. if you frequently work with video files, the ZIP format won’t help you reduce much file size on Mac. It’s annoying that .zip file extension can also get corrupted unexptectedly.

Key Features

• Encode video files with Setting options 1080p, 720p, or lower resolution for small files size.
• Zip video files for quick emailing, sharing, uploading, or storage saving.
• Support tons of video file formats, MOV, MP4, M4V, etc. Apple video formats.
• Easy to use. Fast video compression and zipping speed.

#5. VEED.IO

Reasons to Use

• Clean, no ads
• Easy to use, 10 minutes for free

Reasons to Avoid

• Watermark
• Output is limited to 720p, 250MB for free

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

Overview: VEED.IO is easy-to-use free online video compression software that allows to compress videos free under 10 minutes and 250MB. The output compressed video also has watermark on it for free users. For those who don’t subscribe, it only exports videos in 720p. You can compress 4K to 720p, or 1080p to 720p with lower video bit rate and smaller video file size. The web-based free video compression software also allows users upload video URL or video from DropBox.

Compared to FreeConvert that offers max 1GB for free, VEED.IO 250MB is a big disadvantage, which is far free from enough for users that have large 4K videos to compress. It doesn’t compress videos with great compression ratio as it claimed. According to our test, it reduced video size 20%-40%, for example, it compressed 100MB video to 60MB-80MB with good video quality. Currently, VEED.IO free video compressor shows a blank screen, which seems like a server error.

Key Features

• Support video files types MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WMV, and FLV.
• Upload videos from DropBox, computer, and compress video URL.
• Compress videos under 10 minutes and 250MB with watermark, export video in 720p.
• Clean, no ads, no redirects.

#6. FreeConvert

Reasons to Use

• Max 1GB for free
• Clean and well designed website

Reasons to Avoid

• Watermark
• Slow video compression speed

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

Overview: FreeConverter is a top-rated free online video compression software. With web-based free video compressor, you can shrink video size anytime, any place. It requires no registration and has no ads. The max file size it accepts for free users is 1GB, which is quite generous, compared with 200MB-500MB max file size offered by other free online video compressors. Several different compression methods are offered, including Target a file size (Percentage), Target a file size (MB), Target a video quality, Target a video resolution, and Target a max bitrate. It’s very convenient to compress video file size on Mac or other platforms by directly dragging the file size or quality bar.

The video upload process may take a long time. 1 minute HD 1080p video normally requires 20 minutes or longer to upload to its server. The targe file size option is good for users who hate to deal with video audio parameter settings. The output compressed video has a watermark on it. It’s quite expensive to increase file size limit – the basic plan is priced at $9.99/Month (1.5GB).

Key Features

• Support a wide range of video formats, MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WMV, H.264, HEVC, etc.
• Free convert videos to H.264 or HEVC codec with better video compression.
• Offer various compression method, target a file size (percentage or MB), video quality, video resolution, and target a max bitrate.
• Max video file size is 1GB for free.

#7. VideoProc

Reasons to Download

• Fast 4K UHD video compression speed

Reasons to Avoid

• More advanced features require subscription

Platform: Windows, macOS

Overview: VideoProc is a professional video editor & video converter that has the ability to compress videos for free. Working as video compression freeware for Windows or macOS, it can compress video video file size from GB to MB without visually quality loss. The video compression software trims video length to compress videos without losing quality. It converts video formats, lowers down video bitrate, decreases video resolution, and more. As a video compressor tool, video editing features are also satisfying. Hardware acceleration is well supported, making the program compress 4K/8K UHD videos fast without using much CPU.

Key Features

• Compress videos to much smaller file size without losing quality.
• Offer lots of video and audio options to shrink video file size easily.
• Compress and edit videos to make stunning videos for sharing and uploading.
• High quality, fast speed, and easy to use.

#8. Shotcut

Reasons to Download

• Offer quite a few video compression and editing options

Reasons to Avoid

• No output options for social media platforms

Platform: Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Overview: When you are looking for free video compression software, don’t forget Shotcut. Shotcut is known as a free, regularly updated multi-platform video editing app. In fact, it can also serve as free open source video compression software. The tool allows users to change video codec, video quality, cut/trim videos to shrink video size. It can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Shotcut doesn’t require igh end equipment, even if you are going to compress 4K video size. Sometimes, video playback may be choppy, especially 4K footages. There’s no output options for social media platforms.

Key Features

• Adjust video resolution, quality, codec format, video bitrate, audio bitrate and sample, rate.
• Support various video format types and video in high resolution such as 4K or 8K.
• The open source free video compression software works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

#9. Openshot

Reasons to Download

• Good video compression speed and performance

Reasons to Avoid

• Not easy to get started to compress video

Platform: Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Overview: Know as a video editor, Openshot is also open source and free video compression software. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Openshot can quickly trim or cut videos to make video size smaller. On the export settings, you can select video format, worse video quality, lower video resolution and video bitrate to compress videos on Windows, macOS, or Linux. Openshot is similar to Shotcut, a cross-platform video editor that is also free video compressor. OpenShot’s speed and performance are better. OpenShot appears much more stable than other free or open source video compression software, such as Handbrake, Freemake Video Converter, Free Video Compressor, VEED.IO.

It could take hours to process and compress a large video file, for example, 1GB video. When importing large files, a few hours of a video, there is always freezing/lagging issue. The free video compression software also takes long time to export a video file even on a high-end device. The action response needs to be faster.

Key Features

• Open source free video compression software and video editor.
• Cross-platform, available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Trim or cut videos to compress video size without losing quality.
• Change video format, video resolution, bit rate, and video quality to shrink video size.

#10. Avidemux

Reasons to Download

• HDR video can be converted and compressed to SDR
• Improved Crop and Resizer filters

Reasons to Avoid

• Complicated for noice users

Platform: Windows, macOS, and Linux

Overview: Avidemux is free and open-source video compression software which is able to perform a variety of simple video editing and transcoding tasks. It is a cross platform free video compression software for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It’s easy to make a video to 50% smaller with great output quality, for example, from 20MB to 10MB without noticeable quality loss. The “Resize” filter updated in the latest version has got a nearest neighbour scaling option. HDR video can be converted and compressed to SDR with tone mapping. The “Crop” filter’s Auto Crop function can achieve better crops.

New version of the free video compressor software brings interface improvements and better cutting tool for video compression. You can also enjoy smoother video zooming when windows are resized. Knowing as a video editor, Avidemux is not easy to get started. There’s no central pool for importing video clips for compression and there’s no timeline with multiple video tracks.

Key Features

• Flexible options to change Audio and Video format settings, and wide range of filters and editing features.
• Include support for Nvidia GPU video encoding to offer fast compressing speed.
• Compress videos into various formats like X264, X264, MPEG4 Lavcodec, Xvid, Divx, FFV1, and several more. However, it doesn’t support the latest codecs such as HEVC, AV1, VP9, etc.

[Tutorial] How to Compress A Video on Windows 10/11/8/7

Below we take the best HD/4K video compression software as an exmple to show you the steps to reduce video file size. First, you should know that the File Size, Bitrate, Duration, Video Format, Video Bitrate, Audio Format, Audio Bitrate, Video Dimension (Width/Height) will all affect the final video size. Now let’s get started.

Free download and install the compression software on PC ( Windows 11/10/8/7)

Free download the video compressor on macOS (macOS 11 Big Sur and earlier)

Step 1. Load (MP4) video

Click + Video to browse and select MP4 videos for compressing. It enables you to input multiplevideo files for batch shrinking.

Step 2. Choose output file format

This video shrinker comes with hundreds of output profiles for different compression needs. You can compress videos for email, Whatsapp, instant messagers; shrink videos for iPhone, Android; or compress video size for YouTube, Facebook, etc. Here are the best compressing settings:

• MP4 is the most commonly used output format for its high compression rate, good video quality and wide compatibility.
• HEVC/H.265 has 50% smaller size than MP4 without sacrificing video quality.
• To compress videos for YouTube or other websites, you can choose output like FLV from category “Web Video Profile”.

Step 3. Set parameters to compress video.

To get a smaller size, further adjust the video resolution, bit rate and more. The video compression softare offers the following options:

Lower the bit rate 20-50% of the default (don’t lower it too much). File size = Bit rate x duration, so Bit rate is an important factor of video file size. You can lower the video audio bit rate to reach small files.

Change video resolution. 640 x 480 is a good option, because it is fit for iPhone, iPad, Android mobile, Microsoft device, and video website like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and more. By the way, many users also compress 4K to 1080p for flawlessly playback on desktops.

Step 4: Trim and Crop

Make video smaller by trimming. If you only need part of the video, just trim it and get a small video. This video compression software allows you to trim video by setting start time and end time. You can find the Trim option after clicking Edit button.

Resize video by cropping. In front of Trim tab, there’s a tab named Crop & Expand. Click that tab, check Enable Crop, and then you can drag the border in preview window or press the up and down arrows of Left, Width, Top, and Height to cut off unwanted area.

Step 5. Begin compressing video.

Hit RUN button at the lower right corner of the interface and the tool’s compression engine will go into action. On average, it’s able to compress a video size by 40%-90%, for example, a 4K video can be compressed from 1.5GB to 637MB without visual quality loss.

Video Tutorial of How to Compress Video without Losing Quality

Free Download for Win 7 or later

Free Download for Mac OS X 10.6 or later

FAQs on Best Free Video Compressor Software

1. What’s the best free video compression software?

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe, HandBrake, Freemake Video Converter, FFmpeg, Any Video Converter, VLC media player, XMedia Recode, VSDC Free Video Converter, Final Cut Pro X Compressor, Avidemux, FreeConvert, VEED.IO, iMovie, QuickTime Player, Finder, Free Video Compressor, VideoProc, Winzip, Shotcut, Openshot. Some are paid, some are free, some are open source.

For novices, a simple-to-operate utility is more suitable for them, while the professionals can choose a relatively complicated and powerful one. Firstly, a great video compression tool is decided by many factors, including supported OS, acceptable input sources, support output file formats, compression ratio, output quality, available video audio parameter settings, help and support, usability and stability, speed, etc. Among all these, compression ratio and output quality are undoubtedly two of crucial importance. WinX HD Video Converter can compress video size from 1GB to 10MB with High Quality Engine helping reserve the best possible quality. It tops the list of best video compressor software.

2. Is video compression lossy or lossless?

It depends on the way you choose to compress. If you choose to decrese the video size by changing the video formats, lowering the bit rate, or resolution, there will be quality loss. There are two methods to compress videos lossless without quality loss: split a long and large video into smaller pieces, and remove unwanted parts from the video, such as the beggining, ending, ads, etc.

3. What’s the best format to compress a video?

It also depends on what you’re going to do with the output video. For example, if you shrink the video because you want to publish it online, then web-friendly formats like MP4, FLV, and WMV are recommended. If you need to compress a 4K MP4 video, you can select HEVC H.265 or AV1. They have better compression efficiency at the same quality level.

4. What is the best way to compress videos?

To compress video size, you can change the video codec format to a much efficient one, such as converting H.264 to H.265. To get smaller video file size, lower down video resolution, video bit rate, video framerate. If you only need part of the video, just trim out unwanted parts to compress video without losing quality.

5. Does VLC compress video?

Yes. VLC Media Player can work as free video compressor software. It enables users to compress videos by downscaling video resolution, lowering down video btrate, trimming video length, and downsizing audio video recording. However, VLC doesn’t focus on video compression, the hidden features are not easy to handle. The media player doesn’t directly cut video length. To get a part of a video, you have to record the video clip. It doesn’t offer various video format output, which is a also a disadvantage, compared to other professional video compression software.

6. Online video compressor or desktop softare, which is better?

There are many good online video compressing sites, such as Clipchamp, YouCompress, Convert.Files, FreeConvert, and more. But they often come with various limits. For example, some support compressing MP4 and AVI, some others allow 500MB only. They are not versatile and reliable as the desktop software. They are the best choice for those who have couple of videos to compress and don’t want to install a program.