Compress Video for Facebook (4 GB Limit)

Facebook caps uploads at Video upload 4 GB. VidSmaller compresses any video down to 500 MB so it fits on the first attempt — H.264 MP4 out, no watermark, nothing to install, no account needed to try it. Cloud encoding keeps running if the tab closes. The no-account trial accepts videos up to 3 minutes and 200 MB; paid plans accept files up to 1.5 GB.

Facebook accepts large files, then re-encodes them. A clean, sensibly sized H.264 upload is more useful than filling the full 4 GB allowance with bitrate the platform will discard.

Facebook file size limits, and what they really mean

Meta documents a 4 GB maximum. Choose the target from the video’s length and resolution so upload time falls without adding visible artifacts before Facebook’s encode.

Plan / upload methodMaximum file size
Video upload4 GB

Facebook documents a 4 GB maximum. It re-encodes uploaded video, so a clean H.264 source is more useful than filling the entire allowance.

Limits verified 2026-10-30. Sources: Meta Business Help — Video upload specifications

What 500 MB actually buys you

Every other page tells you the limit and stops there. The limit is the easy half. Here is the half that decides whether your video is watchable: at a 500 MB target, this is exactly how much bitrate is left for each duration, and the largest resolution that bitrate can carry without falling apart.

Video lengthBitrate left for videoResolution it carriesVerdict
1 min68,379 kbps4KLooks fine
5 min13,573 kbps1440pLooks fine
10 min6,723 kbps1080pLooks fine
30 min2,156 kbps480pLooks fine
1 h1,014 kbps480pLooks fine

Method: the bitrate column is arithmetic — 500 MB spread across the duration, minus 128 kbps for stereo audio and 2% for container overhead. It is a hard ceiling, not an estimate. The resolution and verdict columns are a recommendation, derived from published H.264 bitrate ladders and pulled down about a third, because re-encoding footage that has already been compressed once survives lower bitrates than encoding a clean master does. Deliberately conservative — we would rather under-promise than tell you a video will look fine when it will not.

500 MB across lengths and resolutions

The left column is what you have to spend at each length; the cells are what each resolution needs. Green means you clear it comfortably, amber means it is watchable but soft, and grey means pick a smaller frame. Reading down a column shows how long a clip can get before that resolution stops being worthwhile on Facebook.

you haveneeded for comfortable quality1080p720p480p360p1 min68,3794,0002,2001,0006005 min13,5734,0002,2001,00060010 min6,7234,0002,2001,00060030 min2,1564,0002,2001,00060060 min1,0144,0002,2001,000600

Source: Computed, not measured — no encoder was run to produce this figure · Method: 500 MB spread over the duration, minus 128 kbps audio and 2% container overhead. Thresholds come from published H.264 bitrate ladders, reduced by about a third for re-encoded source.

How to compress a video for Facebook

  1. Drop your video in

    MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM and 33 formats in all. Nothing to install — your browser uploads over a one-time link and the file never touches a third party.

  2. The target is already 500 MB

    We pre-set it below the hard ceiling on purpose. A target-size encode usually lands within a couple of percent of the number you gave it, but we have measured footage that overshoots by up to a tenth — and landing over a hard limit means the upload fails. Change it if you want a different number.

  3. Download and upload

    Encoding runs on our servers, so you can close the tab. The result comes back with no watermark on any plan, in an MP4 that Facebook will accept.

Facebook compression FAQs

What is the Facebook video upload limit?

Meta documents a maximum file size of 4 GB for video uploads. Other requirements can vary by placement.

Does Facebook compress uploaded video?

Yes. Facebook re-encodes uploads for delivery, so start with a clean H.264 MP4.

Why use a 500 MB target when Facebook allows 4 GB?

The preset is a starting point for faster transfer, not a platform rule. Raise it for long or high-resolution footage.

OTHER LIMITS
Same tool, a different upload ceiling