Discord's upload limits
| Free account | 20 MB per file |
|---|---|
| Nitro Basic | 50 MB per file |
| Nitro | 500 MB per file |
Compress the video to under 20 MB
- Open the Altols Discord video compressor.
- Choose your video. It stays on your device; nothing is uploaded.
- Pick 20 MB (or 50 MB if you have Nitro Basic) and click Compress video.
- Download the MP4 and drag it into Discord.
Altols works out the best resolution for the size: short clips stay in 1080p, longer ones drop to 720p or 480p so they look clean rather than blocky. The result is an MP4 with H.264 video, which plays inline on Discord on desktop and mobile.
How long a video fits in 20 MB?
File size is roughly the bitrate multiplied by the length, so the longer the clip, the lower the quality has to be. As a rough guide for 20 MB:
| 1080p, sharp | about 50 seconds |
|---|---|
| 720p, good | about 1 minute 40 seconds |
| 480p, watchable | about 3 minutes |
If your clip is longer, trim it first. Most phone gallery apps have a trim button when you edit a video, and a 30-second highlight looks far better than a squashed five-minute recording.
When to send a link instead
For long videos, or when quality matters more than convenience, upload the video to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or YouTube (as an unlisted video) and paste the link into Discord. Your friends click through to watch it rather than playing it inline, but there's no size limit and no quality loss.