How to reduce the video size on your Xiaomi phone: from built-in tools to professional apps

Video files take up the lion’s share of memory on Xiaomi smartphones, especially if you shoot in 4K or 60 FPS. A single 5-minute clip can weigh up to 1.5 GB – the equivalent of 500 high-resolution photos. The problem is compounded by the fact that many Redmi, POCO and Mi users face space shortages precisely because of the video, not because of apps or cache.

In this article, we’ll look at 7 working ways to reduce video size on your phone, from standard MIUI tools to third-party apps with advanced codecs. You’ll learn how to compress a video without losing quality (or with minimal loss), which settings to choose for different scenarios (social networks, messengers, archive), and why some methods can degrade detail more than others.

1. Built-in MIUI Editor: A Quick Way Without Installing Applications

Xiaomi smartphones based on MIUI 12+ have a built-in tool for clipping and compression of video - Gallery → Select video → Edit → Compress. This method is suitable for emergency reduction of size without installing third-party software, but has limitations:

• 📱 It only works with video for up to 10 minutes (on some models – up to 5 minutes).
• 🔄 Does not allow you to choose bitrate or resolution - compression occurs according to a fixed algorithm.
• ⚡ Compresses by an average of 30-50%, but can worsen quality with a strong decrease.

How to use:

1. Open the gallery and select the video you want.
2. Slip on the Edit icon (pencil in the bottom menu).
3. Choose to compress and wait for processing.
4. Save the new file (the original will remain intact).

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If the video is longer than 10 minutes, split it into parts with the built-in Crop tool, and then compress each part separately.

⚠️ Attention: On models POCO F3, Redmi Note 10 Pro and older built-in editor can freeze when processing files weighing more than 2 GB. In this case, use third-party applications (see section 3).

2. Optimization with Google Photos: Automatic Compression for the Cloud

Google Photos offers two modes of video download: “Original quality” (no compression) and “High quality” (up to 1080p compression).

• 🎥 Video with permission 4K shrink 1080p, But the bitrate remains high.
• 📉 Average size reduction: 50-70% (depending on initial quality).
• 🔄 15GB of cloud storage is free (shared with other Google services).

How to turn on compression:

1. Open Google Photos and go to Settings → Backup and Sync.
2. Select High Quality in the Load Size section.
3. Upload the video to the cloud – the compressed version will be saved in the Google Photos folder.
4. Download the compressed file back to your phone (if necessary).

⚠️ Note: If you delete a video from Google Photos before downloading, the compressed version will be lost. Also note that when you re-upload the same video in its original quality, it will not duplicate, but will not be re-pressed.

3 Third-party applications: CapCut, Video Compress and others

We tested 5 popular tools on Xiaomi smartphones and selected the best in terms of quality/size.

Guidelines for settings in CapCut (the best choice for Xiaomi):

• 🎯 Permission: Leave the original (e.g., leave the original, 3840×2160 for 4K), but reduce bitrate to 15–25 Mbit/s (for 1080p — 8–12 Mbit/s).
• 🔄 Format: Choose. MP4 (H.265) instead H.264 — It compresses better with the same quality.
• ⚡ FPS: If the original video is 60 FPS, You're only 30. FPS, Reduce frame rate – it will reduce the size by 20-30%.

Set the bitrate 15-25 Mbit / s for 4K|Select a codec. H.265 (HEVC)|Turn off the sound if you don't need it.|Keep it in permission at least 1080p-->

⚠️ Attention: On Redmi 9A Other Xiaomi budget models coding in H.265 It can take 2-3 times longer than in the H.264, If you need to compress the video urgently, choose the right one. H.264 bitrate.

4. Format Conversion: Why HEVC (H.265) is More Effective than H.264

One of the most effective ways to reduce video size is to change the codec from an outdated H.264 (AVC) to a modern H.265 (HEVC), which provides 40-50% better compression at the same visual quality.

• 📹 Video 4K 30 FPS into H.264 (bitrate 35 Mbps) weighs ~1.2 GB in 5 minutes.
• 🔄 Same video in the same video H.265 (bitrate 18 Mbps) weighs ~0.6 GB - 2 times less!

How to convert to Xiaomi:

1. Install a Video Converter app (such as MediaConverter or VLC).
2. Select the video and specify the output format: MP4 (HEVC).
3. Set up bitrate: 1080p: 8–12 Mbps 4K: 15–25 Mbps

Snapdragon 7xx/8xx

Helio Gxx

⚠️ Note: Xiaomi with MediaTek Helio processors G35/G80 (Like Redmi. 9C, POCO M3) hardware acceleration HEVC In this case, the conversion will take much longer and drain the battery. 15–20%. Check codec support in the application settings.

5.Pruning and removal of unnecessary fragments

Often, videos contain extra footage — start/end recording, pauses, take-ups — and even deleting 10 to 15 seconds can reduce file size by 5 to 10 percent without loss of quality.

• 🎬 The 3:30 video weighs 800MB.
• ✂️ After pruning until 3:00 (removed 30 seconds) – 680 MB (−15%).

How to trim on Xiaomi:

1. In the Gallery, select the video and click Edit → Cut.
2. Move the sliders on the timeline to highlight the desired fragment.
3. Click Save as a new file (the original will remain intact).

For precise trimming (such as removing micro-pauses), use CapCut:

1. Import the video to the project.
2. Divide the clip into parts with the "Separate" button.
3. Remove unnecessary segments and export the result.

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Cutting is the only method of reducing video size that does NOT affect the quality of the remaining frames. Always start with it before you apply compression.

Reduced Permit: When Justified

Decreasing resolution is a radical but effective way, such as converting 4K (3840×2160) to 1080p (1920×1080) reduces size by 3-4 times.

How to change the resolution in VLC for Android:

1. Open the video in VLC and tap the icon. ⋮ → convert.
2. Select the H.264 + MP3 (MP4) profile.
3. In manual settings, set: Resolution: 1280×720 (for instant messengers) or 1920×1080 (for social networks). Bitrate: 5000 Kbps for 1080p, 2500 Kbps for 720p.

Xiaomi

Snapdragon 865

⚠️ Attention: When the resolution is reduced, small details (text, faces in the distance) become blurred. If the video contains important inscriptions or small objects, it is better to use compression without changing the resolution (see section 3).

7. Additional tricks: sound, subtitles and batch processing

Few people know that the audio track can take up to 10-15% of the total video size, and if the sound is not important (for example, in TikTok videos with music), it can be:

• 🔇 Remove completely (savings) ~5–10%).
• 🎵 Compress to 96 Kbps (instead of the standard 128-192 Kbps).
• 🔄 Replace with a lighter format (e.g, AAC instead MP3).

How to remove the sound in CapCut:

1. Import the video to the project.
2. Slip the clip on the timeline and select Separate Sound.
3. Remove the audio track and export the video.

For batch processing (compressing multiple videos at once), use the Video Compressor Batch:

• 📁 Add all the videos in line.
• 🔧 Select general settings (for example, 1080p, bitrate 10 Mbps).
• ⚡ Run the processing (on Xiaomi with 8 GB of RAM you can process up to 10 videos at a time).

FAQ: Frequent questions about video compression on Xiaomi