Notes on making video smaller

Short, factual pieces about how compression actually works, written against the real behavior of the tool, dated where facts can age.

• 2026-10-01 · 6 min

  Why in-browser video compression beats uploading to the cloud

  The math of upload time, what WebCodecs actually is, and why a browser tab with access to your hardware encoder outruns a server farm for this job.

• 2026-10-01 · 7 min

  How to compress a video to an exact file size

  File size is bitrate × duration; everything else is detail. The actual math SqueezeVid runs: budgets, safety margins, the resolution ladder, and the verify-and-retry pass.

• 2026-10-01 · 6 min

  Video upload size limits in 2026: Discord, Gmail, and everywhere else

  The current numbers, their history, and the encoding fine print: Discord’s move to 20 MB, what Gmail’s 25 MB really fits, and the 10 MB forms that never die.