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How to Send Large Videos From Android, Even to an iPhone

How to Send Large Video Files From Android: Shrink It or Link It

To send a large video from Android, pick one of two routes. Shrink the file until it fits the app's size limit, or upload it and send a link. Google Drive accepts files up to 5 TB each, so the cap comes from the messaging app, not from the cloud.

Your camera saved a few minutes of video, and the chat app won't take it. Four ways to send large videos from Android get around that:

  • Shrink it. Compress the video to a target size in MB, right in the browser. The file fits the app's limit, at the cost of some quality. Vidmini does this on your device, without uploading the video.
  • Link it. Upload the video to Google Drive or Dropbox and send it via a link in the chat. The file stays intact, but it sits on another company's servers.
  • Hand it over. If the other phone is in the same room, Quick Share sends the file directly, with no chat limit in the way.
  • Send videos from Android to iPhone. A shared link opens anywhere, and some recent Android models can now send to an iPhone through AirDrop.

Why Messaging Apps Won't Send Large Videos on Android

Chat apps make it hard to send large video files, because each one sets its own size ceiling. A video's file size grows with its resolution, its frame rate and its length. Your file has to fit under every ceiling along the way, including the ones you can't see.

Text messages (MMS). A video sent as an MMS is subject to file size limits and compression. Google Messages offers RCS chats instead (a modern messaging standard that sends over Wi-Fi or mobile data). The Send icon in the compose bar shows which method a message is using.

WhatsApp. A clip picked from the gallery goes as media, and media has a much lower cap than files. Attach the same clip as a Document and it travels as a plain file instead. WhatsApp raised its file limit to 2 GB in May 2022.

Email. It's a poor fit for sending large videos, because attachments have their own limit, usually well below what a few minutes of video weigh. The numbers for Gmail, Outlook and Discord are in our guide on how to send a large video file.

When the chat app is the only way to reach someone, the file has to get smaller. When it isn't, a link or a direct transfer skips the limit entirely.

How to Send Long Videos: Shrink Them Before You Send

A long video is a big file. At the same quality, a clip twice as long weighs roughly twice as much. So cut what you don't need before you compress: a shorter clip loses less quality to reach the same size.

If you need every minute, split the video instead. Vidmini can cut it into equal parts without re-encoding (recompressing the video). No part loses quality, and each goes out as its own message.

To shrink the whole video, use the browser on your Android phone. Nothing to install:

  • Step 1: In Chrome, Edge or Firefox, open the page to shrink the video before you send it from Android.
  • Step 2: Choose the video from your phone's storage.
  • Step 3: Set a target size in MB, a little under the limit of the app you're using. Presets cover 8, 10, 25, 50 and 100 MB. You can also cap the resolution at 1080p, 720p or 480p.
  • Step 4: Run the compression, download the result, and attach it to your message.

If the first result comes out over the target, the tool runs a second, corrective pass. The output is an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, a format that iPhones, Android phones and computers all play.

Nothing is uploaded. The video is processed on your device, inside the browser, and never leaves it. It's free, with no account, no watermark and no size limit set by us.

Re-encoding costs some quality, and a smaller target costs more. Your phone also sets its own ceiling. It's limited by its memory and free storage space, so a very long, high-resolution clip may be too much for it.

Then there's the math. Squeezing a 20-minute video into a few MB leaves very little data for each second of picture, and the result looks blurry. When the video has to stay sharp, send a link instead.

How to Share Large Video Files With a Link From Google Drive

A link keeps the file intact. The recipient gets the video you recorded, in its original quality, and Google Drive accepts files up to 5 TB.

Here's how to share it:

  1. Open the Drive app, tap New, then Upload, and pick the video.
  2. Tap More next to the file, then Manage access. Under "General access," tap Change and choose Anyone with the link.
  3. Copy the link and paste it into the chat or the email.

Anyone with the link can open the video without signing in to a Google account. If the video you want to share is private, leave access on Restricted and add the person's email address instead.

Sharing large videos this way has two costs. The upload takes up space in your account's storage, and a long video takes a while to transfer over a cellular connection. The "Transfer files only over Wi-Fi" setting keeps the upload off your mobile data.

Dropbox and other cloud storage services work the same way. Upload once, then send the link instead of the file.

For a one-off file, a file transfer service such as WeTransfer, Send Anywhere, Smash or Filemail does the same job, often without an account. How long the link stays valid depends on the service.

Whichever cloud service you pick, the trade-off is the same. Your video passes through a third party's servers, and the recipient needs a connection to download it.

Send It to a Nearby Android Phone With Quick Share

When the other phone is in the same room, you don't need a link. Quick Share (formerly Nearby Share) sends a file straight to nearby Android devices running Android 6 or later.

Open the video, tap Share, then Quick Share, and pick the other device. The other person accepts the transfer with their screen unlocked. If nothing shows up, turn on Bluetooth on both devices and bring them within about a foot (30 cm) of each other.

To send a video from one Samsung Galaxy phone to another, use the same feature. Galaxy phones have Quick Share too, though its settings and features can look different.

On the receiving side, Google's help places the video in the Files app, under Downloads, in the Quick Share folder. The file never passes through a chat app. If the recipient forwards it in a chat later, that app's limit applies again.

How to Send Large Videos From Android to iPhone Without Losing Quality

On recent models, Quick Share can send to an iPhone through AirDrop. Google lists the Pixel 8a or later, plus certain Samsung, Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, Transsion and Motorola phones.

The iPhone owner sets AirDrop to "Everyone for 10 Minutes." You tap Share, then Quick Share, and pick the iPhone. They accept the AirDrop notification, and the video file arrives as is.

Phones without AirDrop support can still send videos from Android to iPhone using a Quick Share QR code. The file is encrypted and uploaded to Google's servers, and the iPhone downloads it in the browser within 24 hours. Both devices need internet access, and you can send up to 10 GB to Apple devices every 24 hours.

On the iPhone, a video sent this way arrives as a download in the browser, not straight into Photos.

Two other routes keep the original file:

  • A Google Drive link opens in the iPhone's browser, and nobody needs a Google account to view it.
  • A video attached as a Document in WhatsApp arrives as a plain file, as described above.

If you shrink the video first, the MP4 you get plays on an iPhone just as it does on Android. Shrinking is the only route that costs a little quality. If the file still won't open on the other end, convert it to an MP4 with H.264 video before you try again.