Acceptable Video Resolutions and Limits Within WhatsApp Messaging

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WhatsApp Supported Video/Audio Formats & File Size

By Bertha Miller ｜Last updated on March 09, 2023

WhatsApp, as one of the most popular apps to send and receive videos, photos and documents, has a billion of daily active users. The massive popularity also leads to occasional annoyances. For example, users may receive WhatsApp video format error message like “Can’t send this video choose a different video and try again”, “you can’t attach this file” or “unable to send file”. This is not only because of the video format not supported by WhatsApp, but also the file size limit. Given this, the post will detail the WhatsApp supported video formats, and show you how to convert video to a file with optimal size and audio/video formats that WhatsApp accepts, especially when you want to send long high quality videos.

Convert Videos to WhatsApp Supported Video Formats & File Size

This file format is not supported in WhatsApp? Can’t send videos to WhatsApp no matter how small it is? Can’t upload videos to WhatsApp because it’s too long or too large? Just download the best WhatsApp video converter to convert videos for WhatsApp - MacX Video Converter Pro. It can convert videos in any format to WhatsApp supported video formats, such as MP4 H.264, AVI, MKV, etc. quickly without quality loss. You can also use the tool to compress videos to WhatsApp acceptable size (16MB) with superb quality.

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The downloads above are for Windows and Mac only. If you are a mobile user, please click here .

Part 1. What Video Format Is Supported by WhatsApp?

WhatsApp doesn’t accept all video formats. There are limits. Below is the list of WhatsApp supported video formats, together with the allowed file size. Before you send, share or play a video file via WhatsApp on iPhone, Android, Windows or Mac, check if the video makes the cut.

1. WhatsApp video formats: MP4(recommended), AVI, MKV, 3GP.

2. WhatsApp Video and Audio Codecs: H.264 or MPEG-4 video codec, AAC or AC3 audio codec.

3. WhatsApp Maximum File Size: 16 MB.

4. WhatsApp Maximum Video Length: About 90 seconds to 3 minutes.

* H.264 and MPEG4 cover quite a lot of formats, however, there are also many file formats not supported by WhatsApp. For example, most of the HD and 4K videos that come in H.265 HEVC or VP9 codecs are out of luck. Other videos like windows WMV, MPEG-PS, VPs are not allowed either.

* The WhatsApp video size limit means that you can upload measly short video yet not in very high resolution. Nowadays almost all the videos are in high quality, which in turn creates large file size. A one minute HEVC video 720P HD is as large as 40MB, and the size goes up to 400MB at 4K HD @60 frames/sec, and the situation is even worse for H.264 videos. It is both a pain to share extremely short video, or highly compressed file with lost quality.

Part 2. The File Format Is Not Supported in WhatsApp? What to Do?

WhatsApp supports a wide range of file formats, including popular ones like JPEG, PNG, GIF, MP4, and PDF. However, there may be certain file formats that are not supported by WhatsApp. If you are encountering an error message that says “File format not supported” when trying to send a file via WhatsApp, it is likely that the file you are trying to send is not in a supported format. You can check the list of supported file formats on the WhatsApp website.

How do I fix Whatsapp format not supported? Verify if the file format you are trying to send is supported by WhatsApp. You can check the list of supported file formats on the WhatsApp. If the file format is not supported, you may need to convert the file to a supported format. There are many free online file converters available that can help you do this. Once you have converted the file to a supported format, you should be able to send it via WhatsApp without any issues.

Also check the file size. WhatsApp has a limit on the file size that can be sent. If the file size is too large, you may need to compress the file before sending it. There are many free online file compression tools available that can help you do this. Sometimes, a poor internet connection can cause issues when sending files on WhatsApp. Make sure that you have a stable internet connection before sending the file.

Part 3. How to Convert Videos to WhatsApp Supported Video Formats

Apparently, you will need to convert incompatible videos into file formats supported by WhatsApp. There are many online video converting tools but these comes with shortcomings, e.g. requirement for internet connection, conversion speed is much relied on network connection, size of the video to be converted is limited for free uesrs, converted file must be downloaded immerdiately, etc. Considering this, desktop software MacX Video Converter Pro is recommended.

First, free download the WhatsApp video converter MacX Video Converter Pro on your computer:

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Step 1: Launch the converter and click the + button to load the video not supported by WhatsApp.

* If you want to share and upload videos (or other sites) to WhatsApp, click URL button. Copy the link of online videos you’d like to share via WhatsApp into the box and click analyze to detect the online video. Then follow the same steps below.

Step 2: Once loaded, a window will pop up asking you to select the output format. You can choose any of the WhatsApp supported video formats. Here we recommend you to convert videos into WhatsApp supported video formats: MP4 (h.264+aac).

Step 3: To meet the 16MB limit, or to send longer videos, you will need to compress videos to WhatsApp supported video formats and file size.

It allows you to adjust the video parameters like lower the resolution from 4K to 1280p to keep the size down.
It has variety of editing features like trimming, cropping, expanding to cut the unwanted parts.
It easily compressed a 4min47s 1280x720 mp4 (avc) video from 84.7MB into 18.3mb.

Step 4: Click Browse to set an output folder on your computer to save the converted WhatsApp videos. Then hit Run and start to convert 4K/HD files to WhatsApp video format and size. It takes half a minute to convert a 4K music video into WhatsApp MP4 file.

After you convert thoes videos not supported by WhatsApp into accepted ones, the next step is to upload them to the WhatsApp. You can do this on Mac, PC, iPhone or Android. But for mobiles app, this process involves another step - transfer videos from the computer to mobiles. It’s no brainer to achieve this for Android users, but not that easy on iOS. To do this, you can also skip the complicated iTunes and transfer files to iPhone with a third-party tool- MacX MediaTrans - transfer video, music, photos, data between computer and iDevices in flash (it also converts videos into MP4 directly).

Part 4. FAQs about WhatsApp Supported Video Formats

What video formats can WhatsApp play?

MP4, AVI, MKV, WMV, MPG, FLV, and 3GP. WhatsApp can play a variety of video formats. You are recommended to use the H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec for the best playback experience on WhatsApp. It’s important to note that the video files must be compressed to fit WhatsApp’s file size limit, which is 16 MB for most devices, and up to 100 MB for some high-end devices. This means that you may need to compress your video file before sharing it on WhatsApp.

How can I convert MP4 video to WhatsApp?

To convert an MP4 video to WhatsApp supported video formats, you can use a video converter tool like MacX Video Converter Pro. Here are the steps to convert MP4 video to WhatsApp. Download and install the WhatsApp video converter and install it on your computer. Launch the WhatsApp video converter tool and select the MP4 video file you want to convert. Choose a WhatsApp supported video format (MP4 H.264 with AAC audio codec is recommended). Choose the output folder where you want to save the converted file. Click on the “RUN” button to start the conversion process.

What is the best video format to send on WhatsApp?

The best video format to send on WhatsApp is MP4 with H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec. This is because MP4 is a widely supported video format that can be played on most devices and platforms, including smartphones and computers. When you send a video on WhatsApp, the app automatically compresses the video to reduce its size so that it can be easily shared over the network. However, if the video is already in the recommended format and has a smaller file size, it will be easier and faster to upload and send it without losing quality.

What codec does WhatApp use?

H.264 codec for video and AAC codec for audio. H.264 is a widely used video codec that provides good compression rates and reduces the file size of the video without compromising the quality. AAC is a high-quality audio codec that produces clear audio with low file size.

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Acceptable Video Resolutions and Limits Within WhatsApp Messaging