Compress a video for PowerPoint

How to prepare the clip

1. Add the video. The target is set to 50 MB.
2. Press Compress to this size and download the MP4.
3. In PowerPoint, use Insert → Video → This device and pick the compressed file.

50 MB is a practical ceiling rather than a PowerPoint limit: the application accepts larger videos, but the deck becomes slow to open, slow to save and awkward to share. If your presentation will be sent by e-mail, aim lower, around 16 MB.

Which resolution to choose

A projector or a meeting screen rarely shows more than 720p of real detail, and a video embedded in a slide is often displayed at half the width of the screen. For a presentation, 720p is usually indistinguishable from 1080p and takes about half the space. The compressor lowers the resolution automatically when the bitrate would otherwise be too low, which is exactly the right trade-off for a slide.

Keep the deck small

• Trim the clip to the part you actually show. Dead seconds at the start and end are pure weight.
• Insert, do not link, if you need to send the file. A linked video plays only on your computer.
• Use one or two videos per deck. Five clips quickly add up to hundreds of megabytes.
• Check playback on the presentation computer, especially if it runs an older Office version.

When the deck is still too big

PowerPoint can compress pictures, not videos. Exporting the presentation to PDF removes the videos. The reliable route is to compress each clip before inserting it, then use Compress video on the result if you need to go further. For a video shown outside the deck, convert it to MP4 and play it separately.