Compress: smaller copies of videos and photos, originals kept

The macOS way first

macOS can already make smaller copies. QuickTime Player's File → Export As saves a video at a chosen resolution and can use HEVC for a smaller file. In Finder, select videos, right-click, and choose Quick Actions → Encode Selected Video Files. For photos, Preview's File → Export saves HEIC or JPEG with a quality slider.

Compress does the same thing for many files at once, shows the expected savings first, and finds the large ones for you. The guide to freeing up space on a Mac puts it next to the other ways of making room.

Why HEVC and HEIC

HEVC (also called H.265) is a newer video format than H.264, and HEIC is the photo format iPhones use. At similar visual quality, both usually take less space than the older formats. Macs, iPhones and iPads play and show them natively. Some older devices and other platforms don't, which is why photos can also be saved as JPEG.

How it works

Drop videos or photos on the drop area or click Choose Files…. Anything that isn't a video or photo is turned away with a note. Then pick your settings:

• Videos: HEVC 1080p, HEVC 4K or HEVC (original size). Copies are QuickTime movies (.mov).
• Photos: HEIC or JPEG, with a Quality slider from Smaller to Sharper. It starts at 75%.

Each file joins the queue with its size and an estimate, and the queue header adds them up: "save about" the total. Compress one file or click Compress All. A video that can't be converted to HEVC on your Mac says so instead of failing quietly.

When a copy is done, Reveal Copy shows it in Finder. The copy sits next to the original, named "(compressed)". If a file with that name already exists, the new one is "(compressed 2)" and so on, so nothing is ever overwritten.

Your largest videos and photos

Below the drop area, Largest videos and photos lists up to eight of the biggest you have, from your latest scan. In the screenshot, the largest is a 1.3 GB 4K video on the Desktop. Only files over 20 MB are considered, and files apps keep for themselves are left out: anything in Library, system folders, the Applications folder, and inside packages like a Photos or iMovie library. Add to Queue puts a file in the queue; nothing is compressed until you choose to.

If you want to look further, Find lists every video or image over a size you choose.

Originals stay until you decide

Compress never replaces an original. After you've opened the copy and you're happy with it, click Stage Original. That adds the original to the Cleanup tray, and it moves only when you choose Move to Trash in the review list. Until then, both files use space.

The original goes to the Trash, not away for good, and Undo in History restores it while it's still there. The space comes back when you empty the Trash yourself; MacClearings never does.

What Compress doesn't do

It doesn't upload anything; every copy is made on your Mac. It doesn't edit inside a Photos library. It doesn't promise exact sizes: video estimates come from macOS before export, photo estimates from encoding the photo in memory first, and both are labeled "about". And it doesn't decide which copy is good enough. That's your call, which is why the original stays where it is until you stage it.