How much space does a minute of iPhone video take, and how to make it smaller

These are the per-minute figures Apple has published for the Record Video screen, rounded. They are for High Efficiency (HEVC) recording; other sources and newer models list slightly different values.

1. 1For a clip you have already filmed, open it in Photos and tap the info button (the i in a circle), or swipe up on the video. The file size is shown there on recent iOS versions. If you do not see it, the Files app shows the size too once the video is saved there.
2. 2For future clips, open Settings, then Camera, then Record Video. Each option lists roughly how much space a minute takes, so you can compare them before you choose.
3. 3For the whole phone, open Settings, General, iPhone Storage. It lists what the Photos app holds, though not per video.

What you see depends on your iOS version, and some screens are laid out a little differently on iPad.

• Resolution: 4K has four times the pixels of 1080p, so it needs far more data.
• Frame rate: 60 fps stores twice as many frames per second as 30 fps. At 4K it is the biggest jump in the table.
• Format: in Settings, Camera, Formats, High Efficiency records in HEVC, which makes smaller files than Most Compatible (H.264) at similar quality.
• Content: a busy, moving scene or low light needs more data than a still, bright one, so two clips of the same length can differ in size.
• Special modes: slo-mo and Cinematic clips are larger than the same length at normal speed, and ProRes is vastly larger than any of the above.

Choose High Efficiency under Settings, Camera, Formats, then pick 1080p at 30 fps under Record Video for everyday clips. Switch to 4K for moments you know you will want in full detail. This costs nothing and needs no app, but it only affects what you film from now on.

1. 1Trim first. In Photos, open the video, tap Edit, drag the handles to keep only what matters, tap Done, then Save Video as New Clip. Half the length is about half the size.
2. 2Compress what is left. Photos has no compress button, so use an app. In Minivid, pick the video and you see the estimated result on the same screen before anything is encoded, next to the original size and the preset it will use.

As a rough check, Minivid’s Quick Share preset, which targets 720p at up to 30 fps, works out to roughly 20 MB per minute, and the Save Space preset to roughly 12 MB per minute, when the source is a standard 16:9 clip. Those figures are calculated from the presets’ target bitrates, so a real file can differ a little. In the screenshot, a 33-second, 86 MB 1080p clip is estimated at about 12 MB.

Minivid never aims for a file larger than its source, so an already small clip is not made bigger. Everything runs on your iPhone, nothing is uploaded, and the original is left untouched until you choose to delete it.

Compressing one video at a time is free for videos up to 100 MB, with the Quick Share, Email and Save Space presets at up to 720p. Choosing a size limit, the Social Media and Keep Quality presets, HEVC output and larger videos are part of Pro. Reading the estimate costs nothing.