The limit
Discord announced on 13 August 2026 that free accounts can upload files up to 20 MB, up from the 10 MB limit it introduced in 2024. Nitro Basic allows 50 MB and Nitro 500 MB. These figures come from Discord's announcement as reported in the press; Discord's help page could not be checked automatically, so they are marked unverified in the sources. If an upload is refused, choose the 10 MB option in the target list.
What this preset does
- Targets 19 MB, leaving a margin under the 20 MB limit.
- Works out the bitrate from your video's length, keeping 96 kbps for sound.
- Picks the resolution: up to 720p, lower for long videos so the picture stays clean.
- Encodes to MP4 (H.264 and AAC), which Discord plays inline on every device.
- If the result comes out over the target, re-encodes at a corrected bitrate.
How much fits
| Length | Resolution | Looks |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 minute | 720p | Sharp, even with motion |
| 1 to 2 minutes | 720p | Good |
| 2 to 4 minutes | 540p or 480p | Fine for gameplay and talking |
| Over 5 minutes | 360p or less | Soft; trim it or split it |
Tips for gameplay clips
- Trim to the moment that matters with the trim tool first; a 30-second clip can stay at 720p 60 fps.
- Cap the frame rate at 30 fps for long clips; it halves the frames to encode.
- Remove the sound if it is just game music, to give the picture more bitrate.
What decides a video's file size
A video file is mostly its bitrate (how many bits are spent per second) multiplied by its duration. A 2-minute clip at 2 megabits per second is about 2 × 120 ÷ 8 = 30 MB, plus the sound. Everything else matters only through the bitrate it needs to look good:
- Resolution. 1080p has 2.25 times the pixels of 720p, so it needs roughly twice the bitrate for the same sharpness. Below a certain bitrate, a smaller resolution looks better than a blocky big one, which is why the automatic setting steps down.
- Frame rate. 60 fps needs more bitrate than 30 fps; for talking, screen recordings and most phone clips, 30 or even 24 fps is plenty.
- Movement and detail. A static screen recording compresses far better than handheld footage of a crowd, confetti or water. Two videos of the same length and settings can differ several-fold in size.
- Codec. H.264 plays everywhere. VP9, HEVC (H.265) and AV1 give the same quality in 30 to 50% fewer bits but are not supported by every player or upload form.
- Sound. Usually small: 96 kbps stereo is about 0.7 MB a minute. Removing it helps only for very small targets.
If the upload still fails
- Check the size shown under the result is under the limit for your account type.
- Discord on some networks times out on slow uploads; try again on a faster connection.
- Files that are rejected as an unsupported type usually were not MP4: the result here always is.
- If you need full quality, upload to a video host and share the link; Discord shows a preview for most video links.
Privacy
Your video never leaves your device. It is read and written in the browser tab; there is no upload, no server-side processing and no account. You can disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and it still works. Free use has no watermark and covers files up to 500 MB and 10 minutes; the A$9 lifetime licence removes those limits (your device's memory still applies), queues up to 20 files and saves presets.