How to Make Quicktime Files Smaller

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

Apple's Quicktime is the default media player that comes with Mac OS X, with the added feature of allowing you to resize video files. While you can't specify custom sizes for your videos in Quicktime -- even with the Pro version -- you can make them smaller by optimizing them for the Web or an Apple device. Quicktime lets you set quality levels as well, which also affects file size.

Advertisement

Step 1

Open your "Applications" folder and double-click the Quicktime icon.

Video of the Day

Step 2

Select "File" from the top menu bar and then select "Open." Alternatively you can press the "Command" and "O" keys at the same time to open a file. Locate the video you want to make smaller on your Mac and click it to select.

Advertisement

Step 3

Select "File" from the top menu bar and then select "Export" for web.

Step 4

Click the box next to the desired size. Quicktime lets you export for the iPhone at 56kbps, which is the smallest and 900kbps, and for your Desktop at 1.5Mbps. Keep in mind that the smaller you make your file, the more you will notice a loss in quality.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Step 5

Click the "Export" button to export your file. The export process may take several minutes or longer depending on the size of your original file.

Video of the Day

Advertisement

Advertisement

resources

Report an Issue

screenshot of the current page

Screenshot loading...