Compressing video and photos for LINE
LINE has two problems, not one: uploads that fail, and a second compression pass you do not control. Getting ahead of both gives you better final quality than sending the original.
- Aim for
- Under 50 MB and video practically never fails
- Note
- LINE re-compresses again on send
- Privacy
- Photos are never uploaded, it runs locally
Target size 50 MB
Drop images or videos here
Or click to browse, or just hit Ctrl + V to paste a screenshot
Images: JPEG / PNG / WebP / GIF / BMP · Videos: MP4 / MOV / WebM / AVI
Results
Before / after
LINE has two problems, not one
Most guides only cover the size cap, but what actually bites is two issues stacked on top of each other:
- Uploads fail: video is capped at 300 MB and five minutes, yet the network usually stops you long before the cap does.
- Quality gets eaten: LINE re-encodes on send, so handing over the original means handing over control.
The two pull in opposite directions, one wants the file small, the other wants the quality high. Finding the balance point is the whole game.
Why an in-limit file still fails
The cap is a server-side rule, but the upload still has to survive the network. A 250 MB clip on 4G takes several minutes even when things go well, and a single signal drop wastes all of it. LINE does not tell you it timed out, it just says the send failed.
| File size | On Wi-Fi | On mobile data | In practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 50 MB | Seconds | ~30 seconds | Almost never fails |
| 100 MB | ~15 seconds | Over a minute | Occasional retry |
| 200 MB and up | ~1 minute | Several minutes | Failures get common |
So the number to aim for is not 300 MB but under 50 MB. Dropping 200 MB to 40 MB removes roughly 80% of the upload time along with most of the timeout risk, and on a phone screen the difference is hard to see.
Why photos blur, and how to stop it
LINE re-encodes photos with its own parameters on send. Here is the counterintuitive part: sending the original does not make it sharper. A 12 MB phone photo run through LINE's compressor often ends up worse than one you shrank to 1.5 MB yourself, because you control the resolution and quality while LINE only applies a fixed rule.
Compress first instead: keep the long edge around 2048 px at a visually lossless quality, which lands somewhere between 1 and 2 MB. That is plenty sharp on phones and desktops, and LINE's second pass has far less to damage.
When you genuinely need the full original, the original-quality send option skips the second pass entirely. It costs upload time and recipient patience, so save it for the one photo that matters rather than a whole album.
Recommended settings
- Video: use the "reliable (50 MB)" preset above, and trim anything over five minutes first.
- Photos: use the 2 MB / 2048 px preset and drop the whole batch in at once.
- Anything you want to keep: back it up separately, chat attachments expire.
All of it runs locally, so neither photos nor video reach a server. Mobile browsers can pick from the camera roll directly, no transfer to a computer required.
Frequently asked questions
What is LINE’s video limit?
LINE caps video at 300 MB and five minutes, with a much looser limit for generic file transfers. The cap is rarely what stops you though, anything over roughly 200 MB fails often on mobile data or older phones, while files under 50 MB go through almost every time.
Why do my photos arrive blurry?
LINE re-compresses on send. Handing it an untouched original means LINE decides the quality, and its fixed rules usually do worse than compressing yourself first. Pre-compress to a sensible size at high quality and the final result is better, not worse.
Is there a way to send at original quality?
Yes, the photo picker offers an original-quality option that skips the second compression pass. The trade-off is a much larger file that counts fully against the limit and takes longer for the recipient to load. It suits a single important photo, not a batch of fifty.
My video fails partway through even on retry.
First check the length: over five minutes will never go through, no matter how small. If length is fine, it is almost always a network timeout. Switch to Wi-Fi or make the file dramatically smaller, going from 200 MB to 40 MB cuts upload time by around 80% and takes the timeout risk with it.
Does this tool send my photos to a server?
No. Everything happens in your browser and no file content leaves the device. Mobile browsers can pick straight from the camera roll.