Why Is My Compressed Video Larger Than the Original?

Check the source and output rather than increasing compression blindly.

• The selected quality or bitrate is higher than the source bitrate.
• The output keeps 4K resolution or a high frame rate that the destination does not need.
• The source already uses an efficient codec and the chosen output codec needs more bits for similar quality.
• A very short clip carries proportionally more container and audio overhead.
• Trimming or editing caused a full re-encode with conservative quality settings.

Use an exact-size target below the source size. The encoder can then calculate a bitrate budget from the clip duration instead of guessing from a quality label.

If the target is extremely small, shorten the clip or lower the resolution first. That preserves more visible quality than forcing the same number of pixels through an inadequate bitrate.

If a file already meets the destination limit, recompressing only spends time and may reduce quality. Copy or share the original instead.

Repeated exports accumulate damage. Return to the best available source, make all edits once, and create one final compressed copy for delivery.