Compress Video for Discord
Which Discord limit applies to you depends on what you pay for, so this page starts at the free one: 10 MB. If you have Nitro, or you are posting into a boosted server, move the target up and keep the quality the higher ceiling buys you.
What to know about Discord
Four limits, and the one that counts is yours
A free account attaches 10 MB, Nitro Basic 50 MB and full Nitro 500 MB, while a server boosted to level 2 or 3 lifts the ceiling to 50 MB or 100 MB for everyone posting in it. Discord applies whichever is highest for the person uploading — the recipient's tier never matters.
Discord serves your file, not a re-encode of it
The person at the other end downloads the bytes you uploaded, which is the opposite of how the messaging apps behave. Whatever compromise you make here is the one everyone sees, so it is worth aiming at the highest limit you actually have rather than the one a guide assumed.
Send MP4 if it needs to play in the app
This tool writes MP4 with H.264 wherever your browser can encode it, and falls back to WebM with VP9 when it cannot. MP4 is the safer choice for Discord: it plays inline everywhere, including the mobile apps, which are pickier about WebM than the desktop client is.
What fits in 10 MB
| Clip length | Video bitrate | Resolution it picks |
|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | 5026 kbps | 1920×1080 |
| 30 seconds | 2449 kbps | 960×540 |
| 1 minute | 1160 kbps | 720×406 |
| 3 minutes | 301 kbps | 480×270 |
| 5 minutes | 130 kbps | 480×270 |
These rows come from the same planner the tool runs, so they are what it would actually choose — not a rule of thumb. Your own clip has its own length, resolution and audio track, and the plan is recomputed against those before anything is encoded. Where a row says the target is out of reach, dropping the audio or trimming the clip changes the arithmetic in your favour; the bitrate calculator does the same sum for a target you type yourself.
Frequently asked questions
What is Discord's upload limit right now?
10 MB per attachment on a free account. Nitro Basic raises that to 50 MB and full Nitro to 500 MB. Server boosts change it too: a level 2 server allows 50 MB and a level 3 server 100 MB for anyone posting in it. The 8 MB figure most guides still quote has not applied for some time.
Does the recipient need Nitro to see my larger file?
No. The limit is checked when the file is uploaded, so it is the poster's tier and the server's boost level that decide what can be sent. Once a file is in the channel, anyone who can read that channel can download it, whatever they pay for.
Will Discord compress my video again after I upload it?
It does not alter the file you attached — that is what people download. It may build its own preview for inline playback, but the original is preserved, which is why the target you choose here is the quality that actually reaches people.
Should I upload MP4 or WebM to Discord?
MP4. This tool produces MP4 with H.264 whenever your browser can encode it and only falls back to WebM with VP9 when it cannot. Both upload fine, but MP4 plays inline in every Discord client while WebM can be awkward on mobile — and a clip that has to be downloaded to be watched loses most of the point of posting it.