How to make an iPhone screen recording smaller so you can send it

A video’s size is roughly its bitrate times its length: size in MB is about the bitrate in Mbps times the seconds, divided by 8. A screen recording is made at the full resolution of your screen and is often recorded at a high frame rate so that scrolling looks smooth, and it can run for several minutes without you noticing, because you are busy doing the thing you want to show.

The exact numbers depend on your iPhone model and iOS version, so look at the real size instead of guessing: open the recording in Photos and swipe up, or use Get Info in the Files app. The layout depends on your iOS version.

The upside is that a lot of a screen is still from one frame to the next, so a screen recording usually has room to shrink without looking worse for what you want to show.

Fewer seconds always means a smaller file, whatever the bitrate, so start here. It costs nothing and uses only Photos:

1. 1Open the recording in Photos and tap Edit.
2. 2Drag the yellow handles at the ends of the timeline to keep only the part that matters. Screen recordings often start and end with the Control Center swipe, which nobody needs to see.
3. 3Tap Done, then choose Save Video as New Clip so the full recording stays as it was.

Next time, a short clip for each question is easier to send than one long recording of everything.

• Lower the frame rate. 30 fps is plenty for showing an app, a settings screen or a bug. Fewer frames per second means less data, and a bitrate that scales with the frame rate shrinks with it.
• Lower the resolution. A recipient reading it on a phone does not need the full pixel count. 720p is usually clear enough, but check that small text can still be read before you send.
• Think about the sound. If you recorded the microphone, it adds a little; if the recording has no spoken part you need, it can be dropped.
• Compress once, from the original. A copy of a copy loses quality and may not get smaller.

Photos and the Files app do not let you set a frame rate or a size, and Shortcuts has an Encode Media action that gives you a resolution choice but no size preview. Check the result in the info panel before you replace anything.

1. 1Open Minivid and pick the screen recording from your library. It shows the original size and an estimated result before anything starts.
2. 2Pick a preset. Quick Share, Email and Save Space are free and never go above 30 fps and 720p, so a 60 fps recording is already brought down. Social Media and Keep Quality are Pro.
3. 3For more control, open Advanced. In Pro you can choose the frame rate (Auto, 30, 24 or 15), turn the audio off, and name a size limit such as 25 or 50 MB, and the estimate updates as you change them.
4. 4Tap Make it small, keep Minivid open while it runs, then save or share the result. The result screen shows the new size next to the old one.

Minivid never sets the video bitrate above 95% of the source’s for its presets, so a recording that is already small is left close to its size, not made bigger. Everything happens on your iPhone and nothing is uploaded.

In the free version you can compress videos up to 100 MB with the Quick Share, Email and Save Space presets, at up to 720p and 30 fps, with the estimated size shown first. Pro adds a chosen frame rate, size limits, 1080p and 4K, HEVC, turning the audio off and larger videos.

Trimming and checking sizes in Photos are free for everyone and need no app.