Discord file size limit (2026): how to send bigger videos without Nitro

Discord’s free upload limit is 20 MB per file, up from 10 MB since August 2026. Nitro Basic raises it to 50 MB and full Nitro to 500 MB. If your clip is bigger than that, you don’t need Nitro: compress it to just under the limit, or share a link instead. Here’s how to do both without wrecking the quality.

Discord’s upload limits in 2026

The limit applies to each file you attach, not to the whole message:

The free limit has moved around a lot. It was 8 MB for years, rose to 25 MB in 2023, was cut to 10 MB in September 2024 (Discord said storage was expensive and that 99% of uploads were under 10 MB), and was raised to 20 MB on 13 August 2026. Plenty of guides, and even some of Discord’s own help pages, still quote the older numbers, so if a file just under 20 MB is refused, update the app first.

On mobile, Discord now checks the file size before any compression it would do itself, the same as on desktop. A 22 MB phone video will be rejected rather than quietly shrunk, so it pays to compress it yourself.

How to compress a video for Discord without Nitro

The quickest way is to re-encode the video to a target size. You tell the compressor “under 20 MB”, it works out the bitrate that fits your video’s length, and it encodes once at that rate.

1. Open the video compressor. It runs in your browser, so the video is never uploaded anywhere.
2. Set the target to Under 20 MB — Discord’s free upload limit. For a server or bot that enforces a lower limit, pick Under 10 MB or Under 8 MB.
3. For anything longer than a minute or two, set the resolution to 720p. More on why below.
4. Drop your MP4, MOV, MKV or WebM file in and download the MP4 that comes out.

The output is H.264 MP4, which Discord plays inline on every platform, so people can watch it without downloading it.

How much video fits in 20 MB?

File size is bitrate multiplied by length. That makes the maths simple: 20 MB is 160 megabits, so a video that has to fit in it gets 160 megabits divided by its length in seconds. Take off about 0.1 Mbps for the audio and a little headroom, and you get roughly:

This is why resolution matters. A fixed number of bits spread over a 1080p frame (about 2 million pixels) leaves each pixel far less data than the same bits spread over 720p (under a million). At low bitrates, the smaller frame looks better: sharper, with fewer blocky artefacts in motion. Discord shows videos in a fairly small player anyway.

The same maths at the old 10 MB limit halves every number in that table, which is why one-minute gaming clips used to look so rough.

Tips for the best-looking Discord clips

• Trim first. Every second you cut gives the rest more bitrate. A tight 20-second clip at 20 MB looks close to the original. The Photos app on iPhone, Mac and Windows can all trim a video.
• Record screen captures at 30 fps. A 60 fps desktop recording spends a lot of its bits on frames a tutorial doesn’t need. Keep 60 fps for fast gameplay.
• Drop the audio if it’s silent. A muted clip gets every bit for the picture.
• Aim slightly under the limit. Encoders can overshoot by a few percent, so a target of 19 MB is safer than 20 MB. The presets already leave that margin.

When to share a link instead

Past five minutes or so, nothing fits in 20 MB at a quality you’d want to watch. For long videos, upload them somewhere that streams and paste the link into Discord: an unlisted YouTube video, a Google Drive or OneDrive file set to “anyone with the link”, or a clip-hosting site. Discord embeds most of these, so people can still watch without leaving the chat.

Images follow the same rule. If a screenshot or photo is over the limit, which is rare but happens with large PNGs, convert it to JPEG or WebP with the image compressor and it will usually drop to a few hundred kilobytes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Discord’s file size limit without Nitro?

20 MB per file, since 13 August 2026. Before that it was 10 MB, and before September 2024 it was 25 MB.

How do I send a video over 20 MB on Discord for free?

Compress it to under 20 MB with a video compressor that targets a file size, or upload it to YouTube, Google Drive or OneDrive and share the link. Both are free.

Does Discord compress videos itself?

Not for uploads over the limit. Discord now checks the size before doing anything else, so an oversized file is simply refused, on mobile as well as desktop.

What format should a video be for Discord?

MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. It plays inline in the Discord app on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android, and in the browser. MOV and MKV files may not preview, so convert them to MP4.

Is the 20 MB limit per file or per message?

Per file. You can attach several files to one message, each under the limit.