How to Send Videos on Discord?‍

Written by: Hrishikesh Pardeshi, Founder at Flexiple, buildd & Remote Tools.
Last updated: Apr 19, 2023

Text and chat application Discord is beloved by gamers across the world, and as of late, has grown in prominence even among non-gamers. This is because Discord can do a lot more than just send a plain text or a voice message, and it offers a host of great features. Some of them are - ability to create custom ‘servers’, dedicated channels for low-latency voice chats, and lots of personalisation and integrations.

However, while Discord is great for creating an interactive community as well as for seamless communication with your team, it has its flaws. For instance, Discord’s free version only allows you to upload and share files that are less than 8MB in size. So suppose you wanted to share a longer video to your server (a 10-minute video is easily 100MB in size), you’ll have to purchase Discord Nitro, the paid membership for $9.99/mo.

But is there a way to share videos on Discord without paying for Nitro? Read on to find out. In this article, we lay out various ways on how to send videos on Discord.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to send videos on Discord

If your video file size is less than 8MB, there is no real reason to worry, as you can share it easily on Discord. Short videos and funny clips, as well as short screen-recordings are all typically under a minute, and hence will be lower than 8MB.

Here’s how to share short videos on the Discord web or desktop app:

Step 1. Go to the channel or DM where you want to send the video
Step 2. Click on the plus (+) icon on the bottom-left corner next to the message input box, and click on ‘Upload a file’

Step 3. Navigate to the folder where you’ve saved the video file on your computer, and select it
Step 4. Add a comment along with your message if required

Step 5. Click on ‘Upload’

That’s it, this is how the video will appear in the chat once you’ve sent it:

Anyone in the server will be able to watch the video, and they’ll be able to download it as well, by clicking on this button:

Note:

Discord supports sharing of any type of video file. However, if you want Discord to embed the video in the chat and make it playable in-app, you have to share the video in mp4, WebM, or MOV formats. Discord also supports FLAC files, but only on desktop only, not on mobile.

How to send videos on the Discord mobile app

The process of sharing videos on Discord is similar both on Android and iOS devices. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Go to the server or inbox where you want to send the video
Step 2. Tap the image icon next to the message box

Step 3. This will open a small popup of your phone’s gallery. Next, tap on the file selector icon, as shown below

Step 4. Navigate to the folder where you’ve stored the video, and tap on it to select it
Step 5. Tap on the blue Send icon to send your video

Note that you can also add a comment along with your video. However, unlike on PC, when you attach a comment along with a video on your mobile, it appears as a normal message instead of being inset above the video.

The advantage of sending videos from other platforms on Discord

A great feature in Discord is that it embeds videos shared in the chat such that they can be viewed within the chat, in a small video player. This works with URLs of popular social media sites as well. For instance, if you send a YouTube video URL on the chat, Discord will show a small video player within the chat, so members of the channel can just click on the play button to watch the video in-app.

How to send long/large videos on Discord (more than 8MB)

As mentioned previously, you can only send videos upto 8 MB on Discord. If you want the most straightforward way to send larger files and longer videos on Discord, and you share a lot of videos regularly, it might make sense to buy Discord’s Nitro membership. Discord Nitro allows you to upload files that are up to 100MB.

However, there are several workarounds that you can try out:

1. Compress your video file

The first method is compressing your video file to try and get it under 8MB. However, note that this would only work if your original file is just over the 8MB mark.
If your file is more than ~15MB, chances are it won’t be possible to compress it under Discord's limit.
However, if your file is just over the limit, compressing it and sharing the .rar file over Discord might do the trick.
To compress the video, open the folder containing it, right-click on it, and select “Add to archive” or “Compress”.
Once the file is compressed, simply select it and drag it onto the Discord channel where you want to send the video.

2. Upload your video to YouTube and share the URL

You can also choose to quickly upload the video onto YouTube and share the URL on the Discord channel.

YouTube has a 128GB upload limit, so you should have nothing to worry about with regard to the file size. However, note that you might not want to publish your video to the web if it contains important information. You could also choose to upload your video on Vimeo or Streamable.
One advantage of this method is that when you share the YouTube URL of your video, Discord automatically embeds the link in the chat and allows it to be played within the chat. So members of the channel can view the video without leaving the Discord app.
Also note that viewers will not be able to download the video to their computers.

3. Upload your video to Google Drive/ Dropbox and share the file URL

You can also upload your video to a file hosting service like Google Drive or Dropbox and then share the link on the chat.
This method varies from the previous one in that viewers will also be able to download the video to their own computer for offline viewing and editing.