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How to compress a video for Discord on a Mac
By Himanshu Ranjan · Updated 8 November 2026
Discord's official FAQ lists 20 MB for accounts without Nitro, 50 MB for Nitro Basic and up to 1 GB for Nitro. To fit a clip on a Mac, run FileDial's Compress › Compress under 10 MB, which clears the limit with room to spare, or Compress to size… for a custom target. It works offline.
Discord's current limits
Discord's File Attachments FAQ states that the maximum upload is 20 MB without Nitro, that Nitro Basic offers 50 MB and that Nitro offers up to 1 GB. The page also says limits are being tested, so some accounts may see larger numbers. Older guides still quote 10 MB, which is why you will see conflicting figures online.
Because the limit has moved before, check the FAQ if an upload is rejected. This page's advice works either way: pick a target below your limit and leave a margin.
Compress a clip with FileDial
FileDial has fixed targets for 10, 25 and 50 MB, plus a tool where you choose the size. For a free Discord account, Compress under 10 MB is the safe pick: it fits both the current 20 MB limit and the older 10 MB one. It trades picture quality for size, so it suits short clips such as gameplay highlights.
- In Finder, select the clip.
- Hold the right Option key to open the dial.
- Choose Compress › Compress under 10 MB, or Compress › Compress to size… to pick a number just under 20 MB.
- Upload the new file, which sits beside the original, to your Discord channel.
Getting more quality out of a small file
The size cap is a budget. Every extra second of video eats into it, so the biggest quality gain is a shorter clip. Cut › Trim… lets you keep only the moment that matters, then compress the result. A 10-second clip aimed at 20 MB looks far better than a 90-second clip aimed at the same size.
Lowering resolution also helps small files look cleaner. A sharp 720p picture often beats a blocky 1080p one at the same size. If your clip is a screen recording, see the separate guide on screen recordings that are too large.
Using QuickTime Player instead
QuickTime Player can lower resolution: open the movie, choose File > Export As and pick 720p or 480p, which Apple lists as H.264 exports. You cannot enter a size target, so you may have to experiment. Exported video is a .mov file, which Discord users can generally play, but check the result in the Discord preview before sharing it widely.
Gameplay, memes and screen clips
Discord clips tend to be short gameplay moments, funny screen recordings or reaction clips. These compress in different ways. Fast action with lots of motion needs more data to look clean, while a mostly static screen recording compresses easily. If your clip is a game with constant movement, expect the 10 MB target to look rougher than a quiet screen capture.
In that case give the clip a shorter length, not a lower target. Ten seconds that look good beat thirty seconds that look muddy, and people watch short clips on a phone-sized preview anyway.
Other ways around the limit
If you really need the full-quality version in the chat, there are options that avoid the cap: upgrade to a tier with a higher limit, as the FAQ lists, or share a link to the file through a service you trust. For a looping preview instead of a video, Convert › Make a GIF makes a looping GIF, though GIFs are large for their length, and the video-to-GIF guide covers the trade-offs.
Before posting, check that the clip does not show anything private in the background, such as notifications or other windows. A quick review of the output saves embarrassment.
Settings that matter and mistakes to avoid
Three things decide how a 10 MB or 20 MB clip looks: length, resolution and motion. Length is the one you control most, so trim first. Resolution is next, and a clean 720p picture beats a starved 1080p one. Motion is set by the content, so you can only plan for it.
A frequent mistake is aiming exactly at the limit and then finding the upload rejected because the file is a few kilobytes over. Aim for a margin of a megabyte or two. Another is compressing a clip that already went through Discord or a game capture tool, which stacks quality loss. Go back to the original capture. FileDial is the wrong tool when you need the full-quality file in the chat, because no compressor can beat the cap without losing detail.
Keep gameplay and chats private
Clips from a Discord friend group can include voices, usernames and chat overlays. A web compressor needs the whole file uploaded first. FileDial keeps the work on your Mac, and the original is never changed, so you can re-run with a different size any time.
Questions
What is the Discord upload limit?
Discord's File Attachments FAQ says 20 MB without Nitro, 50 MB for Nitro Basic and up to 1 GB for Nitro, with limits being tested on some accounts. Earlier guides quote 10 MB, so check the FAQ if unsure. Discord's page also says limits are being tested, so your own account may see a different number than the table suggests.
Which tool gets a video under the Discord limit?
Compress › Compress under 10 MB is the safe fixed choice. Compress › Compress to size… lets you choose a number closer to 20 MB for better quality. Either saves a new copy beside the original. A custom target close to 20 MB keeps more detail than the 10 MB option, at the cost of less safety margin.
Can I keep full quality on Discord?
Not above the cap. Without Nitro you must stay under the limit, so shorten the clip with Cut › Trim… or share through a link service. A shorter clip leaves more of the size budget for each second. The best fix is usually to shorten the clip, because every second shares the same size budget.
Does the original get overwritten?
No. FileDial saves the result as a new file beside the original and shows the size before and after. Every result has Undo, so you can remove the new copy and try another setting. If an upload is rejected, read the new copy's size on the result card first and then try a smaller target.