How to compress a video on a Mac

Make a video small enough to email or share by choosing how small it should be, as a percentage.

Built in: In Finder, right-click the video → Encode Selected Video Files and pick a lower resolution. You can't choose a target size.

With Garlic

1. Start dragging the video and hold ⌘ Command for the tools.
2. Drop on Compress and choose a percentage — say 30%.
3. Garlic picks the bitrate to hit that size and saves the new file beside the original.

Or hold ⌥ Option and drop on Email for a preset that fits most attachment limits.

Download Garlic — free to try

Everything happens on your Mac; nothing is uploaded. macOS 13 or later. More guides