4K to 1080p Converter
4K clips from phones, drones and action cameras are large and too heavy for many laptops, TVs and upload forms. Converting to 1080p keeps a sharp Full HD picture at a fraction of the data.
Compress Video
or drag MP4, MOV, MKV … files here ·
Up to 95 MB each· 20 files at once· Removed after 30 min
Your files are removed from our servers 30 minutes after processing.
Never output more than this height. Capping a 4K phone video at 1080p saves a lot of space before any other compression.
Halving 60 fps to 30 fps saves space with little visible change except in fast motion.
H.264 plays everywhere. H.265 and AV1 reach the same quality at a smaller size but some older phones, TVs and apps cannot play them.
96 kbps is fine for speech, 128 kbps for music. The audio share matters most for small targets.
MP4 is the safest choice for messengers and email. WebM is usually smaller for websites.
Files are deleted 30 minutes after processingPrivacy policy
In short
- 1Output height 1080 lines, with the width set by the clip's own shape.
- 2Frame rate and audio kept as they are in the source.
- 3Saved as an MP4 with H.264, which plays on almost every device.
- 4Location and device details removed by default.
4K and 1080p in numbers
The 4K that phones and cameras record is usually Ultra HD, 3840 by 2160 pixels, one of the formats defined for television in ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020. Full HD, 1920 by 1080, is defined in the older BT.709. Both have the same 16:9 shape, and Ultra HD has exactly twice the width and twice the height.
Twice in each direction means four times the pixels, which is the number that matters for file size and playback. Every frame of a 4K clip carries about 8.3 million pixels against about 2.1 million for 1080p. A computer has to decode four times as much picture per second, and an encoder needs a higher bitrate to keep the same look, which is why 4K files fill phones and stutter on older laptops.
Storage adds up quickly. Phones that record 4K by default fill their memory with clips that are mostly watched on the same phone screen, which has fewer pixels than the video itself. Converting older clips to 1080p before archiving them is a common way to free space while keeping footage that still looks good.
4×
as many pixels in each 3840 × 2160 frame as in a 1920 × 1080 frame
Ultra HD doubles both the width and the height of Full HD. Downscaling divides the pixel count by four, which is where the savings in size and decoding work come from.
What changes in the 1080p file
The frame is scaled to 1080 lines on its shorter side and the other side follows from the shape. A standard 3840 × 2160 clip becomes 1920 × 1080. Cinema 4K at 4096 × 2160 becomes about 2048 × 1080, and a vertical phone clip becomes 1080 × 1920, so nothing is stretched or cropped.
Scaling down is the friendly direction: each output pixel is computed from several input pixels, so edges stay clean and some camera noise averages out. Frame rate, audio and the length of the clip are not touched. The result is re-encoded as H.264 in an MP4 container, which is what TVs, browsers and editing programs handle most easily.
Keep the original container under Output format only if you need it, such as MOV for an editing workflow on a Mac; MP4 is the safer default for sharing, and WebM is offered for websites that prefer it.
How to convert 4K video to 1080p
Upload the 4K video
Drop the clip on the box above or press Choose Files. MP4, MOV, MKV and other common formats are accepted, up to 95 MB each.
Keep 1080p
Compress by is set to Resolution with 1080p. The frame rate and audio are kept unless you change them under Advanced settings.
Convert and download
Press Compress and save the 1080p MP4. It plays on phones, TVs and in browsers without special hardware.
4K to 1080p questions
Will 1080p look worse than 4K?
On a phone, a laptop or a TV viewed from the sofa, a well-made 1080p version is hard to tell apart from 4K. On a large 4K monitor up close, fine detail such as distant text or foliage is softer. For sharing and everyday viewing, 1080p is plenty.
How much smaller will the 1080p file be?
It depends on the content and the original encoding, so we will not quote a number. The frame has a quarter of the pixels, which lets the encoder use a much lower bitrate for the same look, and most clips come out much smaller.
Does it keep 60 frames per second?
Yes. Maximum frame rate is set to Same as source, so 60 fps footage stays at 60 fps. Choose 30 under Advanced settings for a further cut in size if smooth motion is not essential.
My 4K video is vertical. Will it become 1080 × 1920?
The resolution setting refers to the shorter side, so a vertical 2160 × 3840 clip comes out at 1080 × 1920. The shape of the frame is always kept.
Can I convert 4K HDR video?
The clip is converted and plays normally. HDR color information may not survive in the standard H.264 output, so colors can look slightly different from the HDR original on an HDR screen.
When converting to 1080p makes sense
Convert when the 4K detail will not be seen or cannot be used: a clip you are sending to family, a video for a presentation on a projector, footage for a laptop that cannot play 4K smoothly, or an upload to a platform or form with a size limit. Keep the 4K original when you plan to edit, crop or zoom into the footage later, since you cannot get the detail back from the 1080p copy.
Batches help with footage from a trip or an event: add up to 20 clips at once and each is converted with the same settings. Files of up to 95 MB are accepted, which covers short 4K clips; for longer recordings, trim them into parts first.
- Downscaling
- Also called downsampling · downconversion
- Reducing a video's resolution by computing each new pixel from a group of original ones. Unlike upscaling, it does not invent detail; it discards detail the smaller frame cannot show.
Making the file even smaller
If the 1080p file has to meet a specific size, switch Compress by to Target size on the main Compress Video page, or use the 10 MB preset for small uploads; the resolution can be capped at 1080p there as well. Lowering Maximum frame rate to 30 for 60 fps footage and removing unneeded parts with the Trim Video tool are the other two big savings.
For still frames, the 1920 × 1080 image page resizes photos to the same Full HD frame. Uploaded videos are deleted after processing, and the 1080p results 30 minutes later.
A useful rule: keep the 4K file as long as you might still work on the footage, and convert the copies you share.
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