How to Compress Videos and Images on Mac

Hero PNG, teaser MP4, one-pager PDF. Three formats, three apps if you do it manually.

What is usually in the folder

File	First app to try
PNG / JPEG	Preview
MOV / MP4	QuickTime
PDF	Preview export filter
HEIC	Photos export

Campaign and launch folders often mix formats on purpose. A landing hero might be PNG, a social teaser MP4, and a sales one-pager PDF. Each type has a different size lever: dimensions for images, resolution and runtime for video, image compression inside PDF pages.

Designers and marketers hit this pattern every launch week: export assets from Figma or Keynote, drop them in one client folder, then discover the zip is 800 MB because one screen recording dwarfed everything else. The manual path works for three files. It breaks down at fifteen.

Images with Preview

Tools → Adjust Size, File → Export as JPEG with quality slider.

For PNG with transparency, export JPEG only when flat backgrounds are fine. Otherwise resize in Preview and keep PNG, or convert through a dedicated tool when you need WebP for web handoffs. See how to compress images on Mac for format-specific steps.

A common handoff mistake is exporting every hero at full camera resolution when the site only displays 1200 px wide. Resize first, then pick export quality. You often save more space from dimensions than from sliding quality to minimum.

Batch resize in Terminal with sips works for simple JPEG folders:

sips -Z 1920 *.jpg

That adjusts max edge length. It does not handle MP4 or PDF in the same pass.

Video with QuickTime

Trim, File → Export As → 1080p or 720p.

One teaser clip is quick in QuickTime. Ten clips from the same shoot means opening each file, trimming, and exporting separately. For MOV sources that need MP4, add a conversion step or use the MOV to MP4 guide .

QuickTime does not remember your last export settings across files. Write down resolution and trim habits once, or save time with a batch tool when the folder has more than a handful of clips. Screen recordings with long intros benefit from the same trim-first rule as single-file compression.

PDF with Preview

File → Export → Reduce File Size.

Preview shrinks embedded images inside the PDF. Scanned pages may need a second pass or a re-export from the source Keynote or InDesign file if quality drops too far.

If the PDF is a exported slide deck, re-exporting from Keynote at lower image quality often beats running Reduce File Size twice on the same file. Text stays crisp when you control quality at the source instead of crushing an already flattened export.

Email and upload size limits

Mixed folders hit different caps depending on how you send them.

How you send	Typical limit	Mixed-folder tip
Email	10 to 25 MB total	Compress video first; it is usually the largest file
Slack	Up to 1 GB per file	Still shrink images so previews load fast
Client portal	25 to 100 MB per upload	Export each type separately if the form accepts one file
Shared drive	Soft limits	Name files clearly: hero-1200w.jpg, teaser-720p.mp4

When everything must fit one zip under 25 MB, start with the MP4 (trim and 720p), then PDF, then resize PNG last. Video almost always dominates the total.

List expected limits before you start compressing. A portal that accepts 50 MB per file needs a different order than email where the whole attachment must stay under 25 MB. Naming outputs with target dimensions (hero-1200w.png, demo-720p.mp4) keeps handoffs clear for clients who upload files themselves.

Bitrate and resolution for video in mixed folders

Images and video do not share settings, but the same campaign folder benefits from consistent targets.

Media	Setting that matters most	Suggested starting point
PNG / JPEG	Max width in pixels	1920 px wide for web heroes
MP4 / MOV	Resolution and runtime	1080p for Drive, 720p for email
PDF	Embedded image quality	Reduce File Size, then spot-check text

Keep video bitrate reasonable before you crush image quality. A 400 MB screen recording makes every other file in the folder look small by comparison. Trim and export video once, then tune images to match the delivery channel.

For a repeatable launch workflow, note which preset worked last time: 1920 px heroes, 1080p teasers for Drive, 720p for email. Consistency matters more than squeezing every last kilobyte when the same folder ships every quarter.

Optional Terminal batch for images only (sips -Z 1920 *.jpg). Video batch usually needs FFmpeg through Homebrew or a dedicated app. The reduce file size on Mac guide covers storage cleanup across all three types.

Using GetCompress

GetCompress queues mixed campaign folders on macOS in one window:

• Drop a folder with PNG, JPEG, MP4, MOV, and PDF; each file type gets its own preset in the same batch.
• Apply max-width presets to images and quality presets to video without switching apps.
• Set target file size on video when a portal caps megabytes; image and PDF presets use separate controls.
• Export everything in one pass instead of Preview, QuickTime, and Preview again.
• Process locally when the folder has unreleased creative, client logos, or staging screenshots.

GetCompress is an alternative when three separate apps for one handoff folder slows you down.

When you ship the same asset bundle monthly, saved presets in one app beat re-learning Preview, QuickTime, and Preview export filters every time. Local processing also keeps draft creative off upload servers before the campaign goes live.