Hey Sylvani,
Sorry to hear you've been having problems uploading videos.
You're right that a three-minute clip can come out over our 600MB limit, and I'm sorry for the wasted effort. Here's the quick fix:
Your phone is almost certainly filming in 4K, which is the factory setting on most handsets now. 4K uses three to five times the space of 1080p for very little visible difference once a video is playing on a web page. Drop the camera to 1080p and a three-minute clip lands around 200–250MB — well inside the limit, and the quality on the site will look identical.
iPhone: Settings → Camera → Record Video → 1080p at 30 fps. While you're in Settings → Camera → Formats, choose High Efficiency rather than Most Compatible — that roughly halves the file size again.
Samsung / Android: open the Camera app → Settings (cog) → Rear video size → FHD 1080p (30fps). Some phones also have a "High efficiency video" switch in the same menu — turn it on.
One thing you can do with your current clip, you don't have to film it again. Open the clip in your phone's own editing tool (or a free app such as CapCut) and export at 1080p.
On our side, the 600MB limit was set when 1080p was the top setting on a phone, and it's overdue a rise. I've put that on the list to fix properly, so this stops catching people out. In the meantime, 1080p will get you through, and if the next one still won't upload, send me the error you see and I'll look at it directly.
3 weeks
