When you need 25.00 MB
The 25 MB covers every attachment on the message added together, so three 10 MB clips already fail. Compress them one by one, or compress each to about a third of the room.
What to expect
A clip of two to three minutes usually fits at 720p. Longer than that, trim it first or accept 480p.
How much video fits in 25 MB
Worked out with the same maths the compressor uses, for a typical 1080p phone or screen clip with sound. Fast motion needs more room, still scenes and screen recordings need less.
| Clip length | Resolution we pick | How it looks |
|---|---|---|
| 10 seconds | 1080p | Sharp |
| 30 seconds | 1080p | Sharp |
| 1 minute | 720p | Sharp |
| 2 minutes | 540p | Good on a phone |
| 5 minutes | 360p | Watchable, small |
| 10 minutes | 270p | Watchable, small |
How we hit the number
We work out how many bits each second of video can use: the target size, minus a safety margin, divided by the length, minus the audio. Then we pick the largest resolution that still looks clean at that rate and encode with your browser's built-in video encoder. If the result is still over, we automatically try once more at a lower rate.
The target we aim for is 24.25 MB, which is 750 KB under 25.00 MB, so the file is not turned away over a few bytes.
Questions people ask
Does the limit include the email text?
Everything in the message counts, but text is tiny. Mail encoding adds about a third to an attachment, so a file just under 25 MB can still be refused. We aim a few percent below the limit for that reason.
Can the person I send to receive bigger files?
Gmail accepts incoming mail up to the same size. Their company server may set a stricter cap.
Related
- Make a video or photo small enough to emailDestination guide
- Compress a video to under 25 MBVideo size
- Outlook attachment too large? Shrink it under 20 MBVideo size
Limits change. We link the official page wherever there is one, and the safety margin means a small change is unlikely to matter. Last updated 2026-11-09.