Aspect ratio never changes
Height is derived from the new width and rounded to an even number, so nothing stretches or squashes and the encoder stays happy.
Resize Video
Scale an oversized video down to a web-friendly width without distorting it.
How to use it
- 1Choose the video file from your device (up to 500 MB).
- 2Set the options for the resize.
- 3Start the job and watch the progress bar.
- 4Download the result before it expires 30 minutes later.
What makes this one different
Never upscales
If your video is already narrower than 1280 px, it is left at its own width. Upscaling adds file size and invents detail that was never there.
Re-encoded at a quality-first setting
Scaling requires a re-encode, so we use CRF 23 — a noticeably higher quality target than our compression preset — to avoid stacking two kinds of loss.
Formats and technical details
- Accepted input
- MP4, MOV, WebM and similar, up to 500 MB
- Target
- Maximum width 1280 px, height scaled proportionally
- Video codec
- H.264, CRF 23
- Audio codec
- AAC
- Upscaling
- Never — smaller videos are passed through at their own size
What people use it for
- Bringing 4K phone footage down to a size that uploads in minutes rather than hours.
- Producing a lighter version of a video for a website or an email newsletter.
- Standardising mixed-resolution clips before assembling them into one edit.
Limitations worth knowing
- The target width is fixed at 1280 px on the free tier; arbitrary dimensions are not exposed yet.
- Resizing cannot change the aspect ratio — use the crop tool for that.
- Free uploads are capped at 500 MB per file.
Why 1280 px is a sensible ceiling
720p — 1280 px wide — is still the resolution most social feeds and embedded players deliver by default on mobile connections. Above that, the extra pixels are frequently discarded during playback anyway.
Scaling to 1280 px typically removes 75% of the pixel data of a 4K source before encoding even starts, which is why it shrinks files so much more effectively than turning up compression.
Frequently asked questions
Does resizing crop my video?
No. Resizing scales the whole frame; cropping removes parts of it. If you need a different shape, use the crop tool.
What happens to a portrait video?
The 1280 px cap applies to width, so a 1080×1920 vertical video is left alone — it is already narrower than the limit.
Can I resize to a custom width?
Not on the free tier today. 1280 px is the width that covers most web and social delivery targets.
Should I resize or compress?
Resize when the frame is bigger than it needs to be, compress when the bitrate is higher than it needs to be. For very large 4K files, doing both in that order gives the best size-to-quality result.
Related tools
What people usually do next.
Compress Video OnlineMake a video small enough to send or upload, without turning it into a blocky mess.Crop Video for Social MediaReshape a video for a specific platform without stretching it or adding black bars.Trim Video OnlineSet an exact start and end point while previewing the video, then download just that section.
Scales to a maximum width of 1280 px. Aspect ratio is always preserved.