SimpleSize.app
Sign in
Back to Tools

Compress MOV

Compress MOV files from your iPhone or camera. The result stays a MOV that opens in Photos and QuickTime.

Drop a MOV file here or click to browse
Select a MOV video to compress (up to 1 GB)
Loading daily limit...
MOV files up to 1 GB. Choose H.264, H.265 or AV1, a quality and a resolution.
Your video is compressed on our server and deleted 30 minutes after the result is ready.

Compress MOV videos from your iPhone or camera

MOV is the format iPhones, many cameras and screen recorders on Mac write, and it is rarely small: Settings > Camera > Record Video on an iPhone lists about 400 MB for one minute of 4K at 60 fps. This MOV compressor re-encodes the video at a lower bitrate, copies the sound as it is, and hands back a MOV, so it opens in Photos, QuickTime and editing apps just like the original.

Upload one MOV up to 1 GB. The quality slider works as on the MP4 compressor, where a table shows how much smaller each setting makes the file.

Settings for iPhone videos

  • Situation

    The video stays on Apple devices.

    Do this

    Pick H.265, the codec the iPhone itself records in. It keeps more detail at the same size and is saved with the hvc1 tag that Photos, QuickTime and iOS need to play it.

  • Situation

    It goes to Windows, Android or an older TV.

    Do this

    Pick H.264, which plays nearly everywhere. If the player still won't open a MOV, the container is the problem, not the size: change it with the video converter.

  • Situation

    The clip was filmed in HDR.

    Do this

    iPhone 12 and later film HDR unless HDR Video is off in the camera settings. H.265 keeps the video 10-bit, so the HDR survives. H.264 here is 8-bit, so turn on Convert HDR to SDR, which appears for HDR clips, or the colours look washed out.

  • Situation

    It was shot in ProRes.

    Do this

    ProRes takes gigabytes per minute, so most ProRes clips are over the 1 GB upload limit. Export a shorter clip, or a HEVC version from your editing app, first.

AV1 is offered too, but few players open AV1 inside a MOV, so keep it for MP4 or WebM. How the codecs differ is explained in what is a codec.

How to reduce MOV file size

  1. Drop the MOV

    Pick a MOV up to 1 GB. The panel shows its codec, bitrate, length and resolution, and offers Convert HDR to SDR for HDR clips.

  2. Choose codec, quality and resolution

    H.265 for Apple devices, H.264 for everything else. Lower the slider for a smaller file and the resolution, for example 4K to 1080p, to keep it sharp.

  3. Compress and download

    Click Compress MOV and download the result within 30 minutes, before it is deleted.

MOV compressor questions

Yes, with H.264 or H.265. It stays a MOV, and H.265 is tagged hvc1, the form Apple's players expect. Save it back to Photos or open it in QuickTime as before.

No. The audio track is copied as it is, and only re-encoded to 192 kbps AAC if it can't be copied into the new file.

At the default quality of 70 the video track gets about 80% of its old bitrate, at 50 about two thirds, and at 10 about 40%. The sound is copied on top. The MP4 compressor page has the full table.

Yes. Screen recordings are MOV files like any other. Text and flat areas need little bitrate, so they usually stay sharp at a lower quality than camera footage; keep the original resolution so small text stays readable.

One MOV up to 1 GB at a time, 10 videos a day for free. The result is deleted 30 minutes after it is ready, and only your browser can download it.