Large photos, videos, and recordings take up space on your device and are often too big to email or upload. Documents can compress them for you. It creates a smaller copy right next to the original, and your original file stays untouched unless you choose otherwise.
Prerequisites
- Compression is part of the Documents paid subscription. If you're on the free plan, you'll be offered a free trial the first time you use it
- Maximum file sizes: images up to 100 MB, audio up to 250 MB, video up to 1,000 MB
- An internet connection is required, since files are processed online
Supported formats
- Images: GIF, HEIC, JPEG, JPG, PNG, WEBP
- Video: 3GP, AVI, FLV, M4V, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, MPV, OGG, TS, WEBM, WMV
- Audio: MP3, WAV
If your video is in a format that can't be compressed directly, such as F4P, Documents will first convert it to MP4 and then compress it. You'll see a note about this on the quality screen, and the compressed file will be saved as MP4.
To reduce the size of a PDF, see the Compress PDF files article.
Compress an image or a video
- Tap ... next to the file. You can also open the file and tap ... in the viewer or player.
- Tap Compress.
- Choose the quality you need: Maximum, Low, High, or Medium.
- If you no longer need the original, turn on Remove original. It's off by default, so your original is kept.
- Tap Compress and wait while Documents compresses your file.
- You can also start this action from Tools > Compressors. Alternatively, share a file from another app to Documents and choose Compress.
Compress an audio file
- Tap ... next to the file, or open it in the audio player and tap ....
- Tap Compress.
- There's no quality to choose. Documents automatically compresses audio at the best quality available. Your original file is always kept.
Find your compressed file
The compressed file is saved in the same folder as the original, with "(Compressed)" added to its name. For example, Vacation.mov becomes Vacation (Compressed).mov.
Once compression finishes, a banner appears with quick actions for your new file:
- Images: Eraser, Share, Open
- Videos: Transcribe, Share, Play
- Audio: Edit, Share, Play