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Need help?How to Convert Video Files Online
- Upload Your Video: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select clips from your computer — iPhone.mov recordings, GoPro / DJI.mp4, camcorder.mts /.m2ts, Windows.wmv, screen-capture.webm, anime.mkv, legacy.avi /.flv /.3gp, even DVD.vob. Batch is supported; drop in a folder and each file converts in parallel.
- Pick Video File Extension and Quality Preset: Choose the target container (MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, WMV, FLV, MTS, AVCHD, M4V, GIF, and 25+ more). Default Quality Preset is "Very High (Recommended)". Switch to Specific file size to cap output at an exact MB target, Constant Bitrate for predictable streaming sizes, Variable Bitrate for smaller files at equal quality, Constant Quality (CRF) to fine-tune by perceptual quality (18 = visually lossless, 23 = default, 28 = noticeably smaller), or Constraint Quality for capped VBR.
- Resize, Trim, or Tune Codec (Optional): Under Video resolution, keep original, pick a Preset Resolution (4320p / 2160p / 1440p / 1080p / 720p / 480p / 360p / 240p), scale by Resolution Percentage, or enter custom Width × Height (aspect locked unless explicitly overridden). Under Trim, select Time Range and enter start + duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss. Advanced users can override Video Codec (H.264 / H.265 / VP9 / AV1 / MPEG-4 / MJPEG / XviD / etc.) and Audio Codec (AAC / MP3 / Opus / FLAC / AC3 / PCM).
- Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared. Download individually or as a ZIP.
Why Convert Video Between Formats?
Video containers (MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, etc.) bundle codecs (H.264, H.265, VP9, AV1, etc.) with audio and metadata. A clip that plays perfectly on the device that recorded it often fails elsewhere because the receiving device lacks the codec or doesn't recognize the container. Converting re-encodes the streams into a combination the target platform speaks natively. Common reasons:
- iPhone.mov recordings on Windows or Android — iPhones record H.264 or HEVC inside a.mov container. Windows Media Player can open the.mov container but ships without an HEVC decoder by default — Microsoft sells the HEVC Video Extension separately in the Microsoft Store. Converting to MP4 with H.264 sidesteps the codec install entirely.
- MKV files that won't play on smart TVs or Roku — MKV is popular for anime, movie rips, and media-server libraries, but Roku, most smart-TV web browsers, and iOS Photos don't decode MKV natively. Converting to MP4 (visually lossless at the default preset, keeping the codec when it already matches) restores playback everywhere.
- Camcorder.mts /.m2ts for editing — AVCHD camcorders from Sony, Panasonic, and Canon write.mts files that Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, and CapCut import inconsistently. MP4 imports cleanly across every consumer NLE.
- Social media size and codec limits — YouTube, Instagram Reels, TikTok, X, and Facebook all process MP4 with H.264/AAC fastest and most reliably; uploading MOV, MKV, or AVI often triggers a server-side re-encode that drops quality. Converting first puts you in control of the encode.
- Messaging attachment caps — Discord free tier 20 MB / Nitro Basic 50 MB / Nitro 1 GB, Gmail 25 MB, WhatsApp about 100 MB in-chat (64 MB on slow connections; 2 GB as a document). Re-encoding with H.265 or AV1, or trimming + downscaling, brings most clips under the cap with no visible quality loss.
- Legacy.wmv /.flv /.avi modernization — Old Windows Movie Maker exports (.wmv), Flash recordings (.flv), and DivX-era.avi files often won't open on modern macOS or mobile devices. Converting to MP4/H.264 brings them back to life with no playback hassle.
- GIF for previews and embeds — Some platforms (Slack reactions, GitHub READMEs, older forums) want animated GIF, not video. The converter outputs GIF with adjustable framerate, palette size, and dithering — see Video to GIF for the dedicated workflow, or turn an MP4 into a GIF that fits Discord's 20 MB cap with the MP4-specific tool.
Container Format Comparison
| Container | Standard / Origin | Native playback | Typical codecs | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP4 | ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003 | Universal — Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, browsers, smart TVs | H.264, H.265, AV1, AAC, MP3 | Sharing, streaming, social uploads, archive |
| MOV | Apple QuickTime File Format (1991, opened 2001) | macOS, iOS, QuickTime, VLC | H.264, HEVC, ProRes, Apple Animation, AAC | Final Cut, ProRes intermediates, Mac editing |
| MKV | Matroska (open, 2002) | VLC, MPV, modern Android players; not Safari / Roku / smart TVs | H.264, H.265, AV1, FLAC, Vorbis, multi-track | Movie rips, media servers, multi-subtitle releases |
| WebM | Google / WHATWG (2010, royalty-free) | All modern desktop browsers; not Safari pre-17 | VP8, VP9, AV1, Vorbis, Opus | HTML5 web embeds, screen recordings |
| AVI | Microsoft (1992) | Windows native, VLC | DivX, XviD, MPEG-4, MP3, PCM | Legacy Windows files |
| WMV | Microsoft (2003) | Windows Media Player, VLC | WMV1/2, WMA | Legacy Windows / Microsoft workflows |
| FLV | Macromedia Flash (Sept 2003, deprecated) | VLC, ffmpeg | H.263, VP6, MP3, AAC | Migrating old Flash captures off |
| MTS / M2TS | AVCHD (Sony/Panasonic 2006) | VLC, MPC-HC; spotty in NLEs | H.264, AC-3, LPCM | Camcorder source → convert before editing |
| 3GP | 3GPP (spec 2003) | Older phones, VLC | H.263, MPEG-4, AMR, AAC | Legacy mobile recordings |
| VOB | DVD-Video (1996) | DVD players, VLC | MPEG-2, AC-3 | DVD rips |
| GIF | CompuServe (1987) | Everywhere | n/a (frame-by-frame palette) | Short loops, no audio, broad embed support |
Codec Compatibility Cheat Sheet (2026)
| Codec | File size (relative) | Where it plays | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 (AVC) | 100% (baseline) | Every device made since ~2010 | Universal default; fast encode, hardware decode on virtually all consumer hardware |
| H.265 (HEVC) | ~50-60% of H.264 | Safari 11+ (iOS) / 14.1+ (macOS), Chrome 107+, Edge, Firefox 134+ on hardware; Android 5+ | iPhones record HEVC by default since iOS 11; royalty-bearing |
| VP9 | ~50-70% of H.264 | Chrome 29+, Firefox 28+, Edge 79+, Android; not Safari | Royalty-free; primary YouTube codec |
| AV1 | ~30-50% of H.264 | Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, Safari 17+, Edge 121+; hardware decode on Intel Arc, NVIDIA RTX 30+, AMD RX 6000+ (decode), Apple A17 Pro / M3+ | Royalty-free; YouTube serves a large share of traffic in AV1 |
| MPEG-4 (Part 2) / XviD / DivX | ~140% of H.264 | VLC, older AVI workflows | Legacy; encode-only for compatibility with old hardware |
| MJPEG | ~400% of H.264 | Editors, VLC, browser-native | Per-frame JPEG; useful for editing, terrible for distribution |
| ProRes | ~1000% of H.264 | Final Cut, DaVinci, Premiere on macOS | Edit-intermediate, not distribution; MOV container only |
Need only one direction? Jump to a specific pair: MOV to MP4 · MP4 to MOV · MKV to MP4 · WebM to MP4 · AVI to MP4 · MP4 to WebM · HEVC to MP4 · MTS to MP4 · Video to GIF. To shrink without changing format, try Compress MP4, Compress MOV, or Compress MKV. To cut footage, use Video Cutter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which video format has the best compatibility?
MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. It plays on Windows (since Windows 7), macOS, iOS, Android, every modern browser, smart TVs, Roku, Chromecast, game consoles, and in-flight entertainment systems. If you only know one thing about your audience, encode to MP4/H.264 — it's the safe default. H.265 cuts the file roughly in half but loses some older smart TVs and Windows machines that haven't installed Microsoft's HEVC Video Extension.
Does converting video lose quality?
Converting here always re-encodes the video — there is no pass-through stream copy — but the default settings make the loss invisible: the "Very High" preset encodes H.264 at CRF 18 (HEVC at CRF 17), the tier video engineers class as visually lossless, and with no codec selected the source codec family is kept (H.264 in → H.264 out), so there's no cross-codec generation loss. If codecs change (H.264 → AV1) or you downscale (4K → 1080p), there's more room for visible loss; setting Constant Quality (CRF) to 18-20 keeps the output indistinguishable from the source in side-by-side viewing.
Should I pick H.264, H.265, VP9, or AV1?
H.264 if you don't know your audience — universal hardware support and the smallest playback risk. H.265 (HEVC) for ~40-50% smaller files at the same quality, if your viewers are on iPhone, modern Mac, Apple TV, Chromecast 4K, recent Android, or Chrome/Edge on Windows with hardware support. VP9 for HTML5 web embeds, royalty-free, no Safari support pre-17. AV1 for streaming-grade efficiency (30-50% smaller than H.265) — practical now that Intel Arc, NVIDIA RTX 30+, AMD RX 7000+, Apple A17 Pro / M3+, iPhone 15 Pro / 16, and most 2024+ smart TVs decode it in hardware, but software encoding is still slow.
Why won't my.mov play on Windows?
Modern iPhones record HEVC (H.265) inside a.mov container by default (since iOS 11, opt-out under Camera → Formats → "Most Compatible"). Windows Media Player and the legacy "Movies & TV" app can open the.mov container but ship without an HEVC decoder — Microsoft moved HEVC into a paid Store extension. Either install Microsoft's HEVC Video Extension, play the file in VLC (which bundles its own decoders), or convert to MP4/H.264 here and the file plays natively on every Windows version since 7.
Can I convert MKV to a format my TV understands?
Yes. Most Roku, older Samsung / LG smart TVs, and Apple TVs don't play MKV natively. Convert to MP4 — if the MKV already holds H.264 or H.265 video and AAC audio (true for most rips and downloads), the same codecs carry over and the video is re-encoded at the visually-lossless default preset: no visible quality change, new container, much broader playback. If the source uses uncommon audio (FLAC, Vorbis, DTS) the audio will be re-encoded to AAC during the convert step.
Can I batch convert different input formats in one job?
Yes. Mix MOV, MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, and any other supported input in a single batch. Each file is processed independently and converts to the same target format you select, or you can change per-file settings. There's no per-job file count limit. Download individually or grab the whole batch as a single ZIP.
How do I shrink a video to fit under an attachment cap?
Switch the bitrate mode to "Specific file size" and enter your target in MB (e.g., 20 MB for Discord free, 25 MB for Gmail, about 100 MB for WhatsApp in-chat video), or use the dedicated tool to compress video files down to a target size. The encoder auto-tunes bitrate to hit the cap. For tighter quality control at a target size, combine downscaling (drop 4K → 1080p, or 1080p → 720p) with H.265 or AV1 — both cut file size another 40-50% beyond H.264 at the same perceptual quality. Trimming dead footage first is the highest-leverage step on long clips.
Can I trim, crop, or rotate while converting?
Trim is built into the conversion flow — pick Time Range under Trim and enter start + duration. For more advanced editing (multi-segment cuts, crop to a specific aspect ratio, rotation), use the dedicated Video Cutter tool first, then convert the trimmed output. Rotation and crop are also available as standalone tools.
What's the file size limit?
Free uploads are limited to 400 MB per file and 5 jobs at a time; paid plans raise the cap. Files are deleted automatically after a few hours. Batch jobs are supported. If your device starts swapping on very large files, process them one at a time or trim first to reduce the working set.