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Common fix · Video

Get a video under Discord’s limit

By Updated How we write these

1 min read

What you’ll end up with

A clip that uploads to Discord without Nitro.

Discord: 20 MB per file

Free accounts. Checked 2026-09-16. Every limit we track.

Discord’s free upload limit was raised in August 2026, and a great many guides still quote the old 8 MB or 10 MB figure. The current number, and the date we last checked it, is on the upload limits page.

Game clips are the usual case, and they are the hardest kind of footage to compress: fast movement means every pixel changes every frame. Dropping the frame rate is usually the wrong move here — dropping the resolution is the right one.

What to do

  1. Trim to the bit you actually want to show

    Clips are usually longer than the moment. Cutting to the ten seconds that matter often gets you under the limit with no compression at all.

    Trim the clip

  2. Compress with the Discord preset

    The preset targets the current free-account limit. Gameplay at 1080p60 compressed to 20 MB will show it; 720p60 usually looks better at the same size because the encoder has fewer pixels to spend bits on.

    Compress for Discord

Settings that work

Recommended settings
Resolution 720p for gameplay, 1080p for slower footage
Frame rate Keep 60fps for gaming — it is what makes it look smooth
Format MP4 with H.264, which plays inline in Discord

Worth knowing

  • Discord plays MP4 with H.264 inline. More exotic codecs may upload but then need downloading to watch, which defeats the point.

Questions

What is Discord’s file size limit?

It depends on the account tier, and the free limit changed in 2026. The current figures are on the upload limits page with the date we checked them.

How do I compress a game clip for Discord?

Trim it to the moment, then compress at 720p keeping 60fps. Frame rate is what makes gameplay look right, so spend the budget there and take it from resolution.

Does compressing ruin a gameplay clip?

Fast motion is the hardest thing to compress, so it shows more than static footage. Trimming harder is always better than compressing harder.

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