Discord File Size Limit: How to Get Any Video Under It Without Nitro
Discord's free upload limit is 20MB at the time of writing. Here is the bitrate arithmetic, and the order of cuts, that gets any clip under it cleanly.
Updated September 15, 20266 min read
At the time of writing, Discord lets free accounts upload files of up to 20MB, Nitro Basic up to 50MB and full Nitro up to 500MB. Getting a video under 20MB without paying is arithmetic: divide the size budget by the clip's length to find the bitrate you can afford, then make the cuts in the right order — length first, resolution second, quality last.
The current limits, and what changed
Discord raised the free limit from 10MB to 20MB in August 2026, so any guide or preset still quoting 10MB is out of date. Its File Attachments FAQ also says it is experimenting with larger limits for select users, so a friend may be able to send a file that you cannot.
| Plan | Upload limit per file | Total bitrate for a 60-second clip |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 20MB | about 2.7 Mbps |
| Nitro Basic | 50MB | about 6.7 Mbps |
| Nitro | up to 500MB | about 67 Mbps |
One change matters more than the number. Discord now checks the size before any compression, on mobile as well as desktop. The phone app used to try shrinking an oversized clip first; now the number you see is the number that counts, and Discord itself warns that Android users, whose source files tend to be larger, may hit the limit more often than before. Getting the file under the line yourself is the reliable route.
The arithmetic: size budget divided by duration
A video file is its bitrate multiplied by its duration, so you can work backwards. 20MB is 160 megabits. Divide that by the clip's length in seconds and you have the total bitrate the file can carry — video and audio together.
Two deductions come off that total. Audio takes its own share: 128 kbps is plenty for speech and game sound, 96 kbps is fine, and removing the track frees all of it. The container adds a small overhead, and Discord does not say whether its megabyte is 1,000,000 or 1,048,576 bytes. Aim for 19MB rather than 20 and neither will catch you out.
| Clip length | Total bitrate at 19MB | Video after 128 kbps audio | Realistic resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | about 10 Mbps | about 10 Mbps | 1080p, even at 60 fps |
| 30 seconds | about 5.1 Mbps | about 4.9 Mbps | 1080p at 30 fps |
| 60 seconds | about 2.5 Mbps | about 2.4 Mbps | 720p; 1080p only for static scenes |
| 2 minutes | about 1.3 Mbps | about 1.1 Mbps | 720p for talking, 480p for gameplay |
| 5 minutes | about 510 kbps | about 380 kbps | 480p or lower — consider a link |
Get the clip under the limit, in this order
Trim to the moment
Length is the only lever that costs nothing: halve the clip and every bitrate in the table doubles. The video cutter defaults to a lossless cut, copying the original compressed video rather than re-encoding it, so trimming first loses no quality at all. The guide to trimming without re-encoding explains why such a cut can start a fraction early.
Match the resolution to the budget
Find your clip length in the table and take that row's resolution. The video resizer sets 720p, 480p or an exact size with the aspect ratio kept, and the compressor can scale down in the same pass.
Drop the frame rate if the footage allows
Going from 60 fps to 30 fps halves the number of frames the encoder has to describe, although the saving in bytes is smaller than half. For a talking head it is invisible; for fast gameplay it is noticeable, so decide clip by clip.
Set the target size
In the video compressor, choose Size in MB and type 19. It works out the bitrate for your clip's length, and if the settings cannot get that small it tells you the smallest size they can reach, rather than quietly handing back a file that is still too big.
Type a target size, pick a resolution and an audio bitrate. It all runs on your device, not our servers, so a 90MB gameplay clip is not an upload before it is a download.
Compress a video for DiscordWhat the compressor gives you for free
The free plan compresses one video at a time, up to 100MB and five minutes long, with output up to 1080p and 30 fps. That covers anything that has to fit in 20MB, because past about half a minute a 19MB budget cannot carry 1080p well anyway. Pro adds batches of up to 20 clips and keeps higher resolutions and the source frame rate.
- Output format: MP4 is the safe choice, and Discord's help centre lists it among its most common upload types. WebM and MOV are there if you need them.
- Audio: 192, 128, 96 or 64 kbps, or remove it entirely. 64 kbps is plenty for voice, and dropping the track is the quickest single saving for a clip that does not need sound.
- Frame rate: keep the original, or choose 60, 30, 24 or 15 fps.
- Resolution: the original, anything from 2160p down to 240p, or a custom size.
When a GIF or a link is the better answer
A short, silent reaction clip — two or three seconds that loop — can work as a GIF, and Video to GIF makes one; on the free plan it produces GIFs of up to 30 seconds, 640 pixels on the longest side and 20 fps. But a GIF is almost always larger than an MP4 of the same clip, because it is limited to 256 colours per frame and has no real motion compression. It is a format choice, not a way to save bytes. Turning a video into a GIF that is not 40MB covers the settings that matter.
For anything long — a full match, a stream highlight reel, a recorded meeting — no setting makes five good minutes fit in 20MB. Upload it to cloud storage or a video host and paste the link; Discord shows a preview for pasted links unless the reader has turned embeds off. Nitro is the other honest answer if you send large clips every week.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Discord file size limit without Nitro?
At the time of writing it is 20MB per file for free accounts, raised from 10MB in August 2026. Discord also says some users are part of an experiment with larger limits, so the number you see can differ from a friend's.
How do I compress a video for Discord?
Trim it first, choose a resolution the clip's length can afford, then set a target size of about 19MB in a compressor that accepts one. A 30-second clip fits at 1080p; a two-minute clip needs 720p or lower.
Why is my video still too big for Discord on my phone?
Discord now checks the file size before compressing, on mobile as well as desktop, so the app no longer shrinks an oversized clip for you. Phone recordings, especially 4K or 60 fps ones, need compressing before you attach them.
What is the Discord file size limit with Nitro?
50MB with Nitro Basic and up to 500MB with full Nitro, at the time of writing. On Basic that is a couple of minutes of clean 1080p; full Nitro takes most unedited phone clips as they are.
Is a GIF smaller than an MP4 for Discord?
Almost never. A GIF of the same clip is usually several times larger, because it has no motion compression and a 256-colour limit. Use MP4 for anything longer than a few seconds and keep GIF for short, silent loops.