2 Effective Methods to Resize Video on iPhone
Have you ever tried to send a video from your iPhone only to get an error that the file size is too large? Or perhaps you shot a video in portrait mode but need to use it in a widescreen project. Resizing and changing the aspect ratio of videos directly on your iPhone is possible without requiring any extra apps.
In this article, we'll walk you through easy steps to reduce iPhone video file sizes to make them easier to share. Let's get started to learn how to resize videos on iPhone. Then you can get the job done according to your needs.
Part 1. Why We Need to Resize iPhone Videos?
There are several reasons you may want to resize or reduce the file size of videos shot on your iPhone. Here are some of the most common situations to resize video iPhone.
- Social Media Purposes
- Faster Sharing
- Storage Space
- Aspect Ratio Mismatch
- Prepare for Specific Projects
Most social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter place limits on the maximum size of videos you can upload. iPhone videos shot at the highest 4K resolution are often too large to directly upload. Resizing brings them under the size limit so they can be posted.
Large video files take longer to upload and share. By making an iPhone video smaller through resizing, transfers will be much quicker whether sharing through email, messaging apps or placing in cloud storage.
Video can quickly eat up storage space on your iPhone. Making videos smaller allows you to free up local storage room for more videos, photos, apps and more.
Sometimes iPhone videos are shot vertically but need to be used in widescreen projects and vice versa. Changing the aspect ratio allows better fitting without black bars or cropping parts of the video out.
Video editors often desire footage to have specific frame sizes and dimensions. Resizing iPhone videos beforehand makes it quicker to start editing them in projects.
Part 2. Resize iPhone Videos by Reducing Video File Size
The file size of a video determines how easy it is to share and store. Larger video files take up more storage space on your iPhone and are harder to upload online. Many popular sharing platforms and social media sites place strict limits on the maximum file size for video uploads. For example, some common video size restrictions are:
- Facebook: 4GB max
- Instagram: 4GB max, 60 sec max length
- Twitter: 512MB max
- WhatsApp: 16MB max
- Gmail attachment limit: 25MB
- iCloud free storage: 5GB total space
If an iPhone video exceeds these size limits, you won't be able to directly upload or attach it. Trying to share videos that are too large will result in frustrating error messages. Additionally, oversized videos eat up precious storage on your iPhone.
That's why it's useful to be able to compress and reduce size video iPhone to make them smaller. Reducing video file sizes before sharing allows you to post clips anywhere and frees up local storage room on your device. Understanding typical video size restrictions helps motivate the need to shrink down iPhone videos when necessary.
1. How to Reduce the Size of a Video on iPhone?
HitPaw Online Video Compressor is a free web-based tool that makes it easy to quickly cut down the file size of videos shot on your iPhone. It works fully in your browser without needing to install any desktop software or mobile apps.
The online compressor is extremely convenient for resizing videos to meet size limits for sharing on social media, sending through email or messages, storing locally on your iPhone, and more. It handles videos up to 2 GB in size and supports all common formats like MOV, MP4, MKV and more. Read on and let's learn more on how to change video resolution on iPhone using this online tool.
Step 1: Visit HitPaw Online Video CompressorOpen your iPhone's web browser and go to HitPaw Online Video Compressor. This will bring up the online Compressor main page. Tap the "Choose File" button and select the video file stored on your phone that you want to make smaller.

Step 2: Compress the Video
Now you can select the percentage that you want to compress your iPhone video. Higher compression yields smaller files, but video quality starts to decline at over 70% compression. 50% is suitable in most cases.

Step 3: Download Compressed Video
The tool automatically selects output format, or you can set this manually if desired. When ready, tap the prominent "Compress Now!" button to have HitPaw start processing your video to make it smaller. Wait a few minutes for long or high resolution videos to finish compressing.

Now you have an easy way to overcome video size limits and storage restrictions right on your iPhone!
Part 3. Resize iPhone Videos By Changing Video Ratio
Aspect ratio refers to the proportional relationship between a video's width and height dimensions. It is typically displayed as a ratio like 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 and so on. Many social media sites and project formats expect footage to have certain standard aspect ratios:
- Instagram: 1:1 square or 4:5 vertical
- YouTube: 16:9 widescreen
- Facebook: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1
- LinkedIn: Between 1:2 to 2:4 aspect ratios
When the aspect ratio of your iPhone video doesn't match expected dimensions, the footage may look incorrectly stretched, have black bars, or require cropping/zooming resulting in missing content. You should also use your common sense to make video smaller iPhone to get the best results.
How to Change Video Resolution on iPhone?

The Photos app on your iPhone provides a quick and easy way to crop and resize videos to different aspect ratios. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Select the Video in Photos App Open the Photos app on your iPhone, and tap the video you want to resize to select it.
Step 2: Enter Edit Mode Tap Edit at the top right corner, and the video will open with a timeline at the bottom.
Step 3: Resize the Video Resize iPhone video in one of the following ways:
- Move the starting and ending anchors on the timeline to trim the video length.
- Tap the "Crop" icon, then move your finger to reshape or crop the video frame.
- Tap the "Crop" icon, then tap the icon again to select a preset aspect ratio like Square, 9:16, 16:9 etc.
After resizing, tap "Done" to save the changes to the video.
Part 4. Best Way to Resize iPhone Video on Desktop
HitPaw Univd (HitPaw Video Converter) is an advanced desktop tool for reducing video file sizes while retaining quality. Its video editor allows changing aspect ratios, cropping, trimming and more. With its ability to significantly shrink video sizes for easier sharing while remaining visually lossless, plus the full suite of video editing tools to adjust attributes like aspect ratio, HitPaw Univd provides the best desktop solution for resizing iPhone videos before or after transferring to a computer. It makes meeting any social media or project size requirements easy.

HitPaw Univd - All-in-one Video Solutions for Win & Mac
Secure Verified. 254,145 people have downloaded it.
- Lossless iPhone video compression to over 80% smaller files
- Retain full 4K resolution qualityafter compression
- Batch process unlimited iPhone videosat once
- Change iPhone videos'aspect ratios with a simple click
- Built-in editor: cropping, trimming, cutting, merging iPhone videos easily
- Integrate AI feature: Speech to Text, Vocal Remover, Blur Face, and Noise Remover
Secure Verified. 254,145 people have downloaded it.
1. How to Reduce iPhone Video?
HitPaw Univd can help you with reducing the iPhone video size effectively. Here's an overview of the steps.
Step 1: Add iPhone Videos
Open HitPaw Univd on your Mac or Windows computer. Click "Add Video" then select iPhone videos from your device or local storage to add them for compressing.

Step 2: Customize Compression Settings
Click the gear icon for each video to open settings. Choose a compression level from Low to Lossless based on desired file size reduction. Higher compression means smaller files but lower quality.

Step 3: Preview Size Changes
Select a video and click "Preview" to see the compression results before finalizing. This allows closely evaluating quality.

Step 4: Start Video Compression
Choose an overall compression level to apply to all files, then click "Compress" to resize an individual video or "Compress All" to batch process multiple iPhone videos at once.

2. How to Change iPhone Video Resolution?
Following these quick steps allows easily converting iPhone videos to correctly fit any social media site or project formatting needs through changing aspect ratios with HitPaw's handy video editor.
Step 1: Launch Auto Reframe Tool
Open HitPaw on desktop and switch to the Edit tab. Click the "Auto Reframe" feature to launch the video resolution adjustment tool.

Step 2: Import Your iPhone Video
Drag and drop the video from your iPhone you want to change the resolution of into the HitPaw interface.

Step 3: Select Desired Aspect Ratio
Choose from preset aspect ratios like 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 square etc. Specific social media dimensions for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube available too.

Step 4: Export Modified Video
With desired aspect ratio set, click the "Export" button. Your iPhone video resized to the new resolution will be processed then automatically saved to access.

FAQs about Resizing iPhone Videos
Q1. How do I crop a video to make it smaller on my iPhone?
A1. Open the Photos app and select the video you want to shrink. Tap "Edit", then tap the Crop icon and drag the corners/edges to crop out parts and make the video frame smaller. Tap "Done" to save the cropped smaller version.
Q2. How to change aspect ratio on iPhone without cropping?
A2. Use the Photos app's edit tools as well. When resizing, choose "Crop" then tap the icon a second time and select one of the preset aspect ratios like Square or 16:9. This avoids manually cropping so no content is removed.
Conclusion
Resizing an iPhone video to reduce its file size or alter its resolution helps prepare clips for easier sharing on social media and through messaging or email. Compression tools like HitPaw Univd can dramatically reduce file sizes with negligible visual quality loss. Built-in editing apps make cropping frame sizes or changing aspect ratios simple too.
Use this guide to understand the various methods for effectively resizing iPhone videos to suit your purposes - whether trimming length in the Photos app, compression to shrink files for uploading or sharing, adjusting dimensions to prevent black bars or distortion issues, or other resolution modifications. With the right approach and software tools, optimizing iPhone videos is easy.
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Daniel Walker
Editor-in-Chief
My passion lies in bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and everyday creativity. With years of hands-on experience, I create content that not only informs but inspires our audience to embrace digital tools confidently.
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