# Need help sending a MOV file **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063 "2020-03-23T00:34:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/1 "2020-03-23T00:34:20Z")
I just took a 56 second video on my iPhone. It’s 108 MB. As I expected, sending it via text and/or email is a problem. Is there a way to format/reduce its size making texting/emailing possible? Thx ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/2 "2020-03-23T00:54:30Z")
Use [VLC Media Player](https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html) to convert it to a different format. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/3 "2020-03-23T01:11:05Z")
For video I’d recommend sharing using DropBox or Google Drive. Email is a horribly inefficient way to send video files. To attach them to an email they have to be encoded in a way that makes them as much as 30% larger. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/4 "2020-03-23T01:20:02Z")
As a film festival director, I send and receive large video files all the time. Converting to .mp4 will reduce the size, but I use DropBox to send, receive and store video files. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/5 "2020-03-23T01:48:36Z")
If you have an Apple ID, you can use Mail Drop to allow you to send this in your email. One of the single best hidden iCloud features, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/6 "2020-03-23T02:11:31Z")
I only know Android and Windows programs and know nothing about the file that you just created (what codec? what resolution) but you should be able to get the file vastly smaller than that without sacrificing much quality. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/7 "2020-03-23T05:26:15Z")
+1 for Dropbox. Create a free account, upload,make a link, send a link. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/8 "2020-03-23T05:45:26Z")
I have successfully transferred moderately large video and audio files using Resilio (works on multiple operating systems) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/9 "2020-03-23T06:01:44Z")
There’s no need to convert the file. You can use [WeTransfer](https://wetransfer.com/)to send up to 2 GB for free. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/10 "2020-03-23T13:44:14Z")
My question is why would he _want_ to leave the file in that obscenely bloated size? I record my video in 1080p 30fps in h265 at 2 megabytes per second, then afterwards convert it to a more efficient h265 (but slower encoding than realtime) at get up to around 10x size savings. There is no excuse for the final version of a file to end up at more than 100 MB per minute unless it is something like 8k 60fps 12 bit with 7.1 Dolby Atmos sound–and maybe not even then. If it is 1080p I’d say it should be under 5 MB, 4k under 10 MB. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/11 "2020-03-23T14:26:20Z")
Another way, the way I would do it, is to upload it to my YouTube channel, then send a link. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/12 "2020-03-23T14:33:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Another way, the way I would do it, is to upload it to my YouTube channel, then send a link. I do that, too, but we have to consider if the intention is to transfer a particular file, unaltered, or just provide something someone can view. YT processes what you post, modifying the data; dropbox and other file-transfer sites do not. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/13 "2020-03-23T14:37:49Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I do that, too, but we have to consider if the intention is to transfer a particular file, unaltered, or just provide something someone can view. YT processes what you post, modifying the data; dropbox and other file-transfer sites do not. Ahhh, I knew there were negatives, just didn’t know the specifics. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/14 "2020-03-23T14:42:26Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > For video I’d recommend sharing using DropBox or Google Drive. Email is a horribly inefficient way to send video files. To attach them to an email they have to be encoded in a way that makes them as much as 30% larger. I would use Google Drive, mostly because I already have a Gmail account (unlike a Dropbox account) and it’s simple; if I email too large a file to someone via Gmail, it’s sent as a link to a file on my Google Drive account. I don’t know what sort of email account the OP has. (I also have a [Box.com](http://Box.com) account through work and it could also be used to send a large file to someone.) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/15 "2020-03-23T17:03:40Z")
Not to be jerkish, but I will reiterate that MailDrop is the easiest way to do this. The OP has an iPhone, so he has (or at least SHOULD have) an Apple ID. One check-box in his mail program (on OS X), or an option on iOS, and you are done. > **['What is Mail Drop on an iPhone?': How to use Mail Drop to email large files...](https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-mail-drop-on-iphone)** > > Mail Drop is a feature built into your iPhone's Mail app that allows you to email large files. Mail Drop links work for 30 days once they're sent. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/16 "2020-03-24T03:13:10Z")
You’re not being jerkish, Mail Drop is the most convenient way to do it. edit to add Well, maybe Air Drop, provided the person he wants to send it to has an iPhone and is standing right next to him, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/17 "2020-03-24T11:24:56Z")
Various ways have been suggested; I’ll mention how we used to do it before there were ‘Clouds.’ If an e-mail method limits you to 10 megabytes, but you need to send 100 megabytes, you can split the file into ten smaller pieces, e-mail them one by one, then reassemble them at the other end. All you need are ‘split’ and ‘cat’ utility programs, each of which is so trivial it can be developed in a matter of _seconds_ using a general-purpose programming language. Back in the 1970’s they had things called “general-purpose computers” with “flexible interfaces” that made the above trivial. If you didn’t want to write a tiny amount of code, you could use the bundled utilities ‘split’ and ‘cat.’ Even today, I’m sure that you can hunt for and download a 3rd-party applet for Windows that will do what ‘split’ and ‘cat’ did 50 years ago. (Unlike ‘cat’ and ‘split’ the new applet will have a full-color graphic interface complete with an animation of dancing pigs, and a place to enter credit-card info if you want to use the utility more than three times.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-sending-a-mov-file/850063/18 "2020-03-24T13:33:51Z")
Or he could do it [the way we used to share binaries on Usenet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YEnc).