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What video formats are supported in the WhatsApp for Android and Whatsapp Windows desktop apps (specially the later one)?

I receive the error Video is not supported when I drag a video file into the interface.

I've tried the following formats and resolutions:

MP4 MPEG4 480x360, 640x360
MP4 MPEG4 720P
AVI 720P XVID
AVI 720P MPEG4
AVI 480x360 xvid
avi 360p xvid
avi 320x240 avc

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  • Are your videos smaller than 16MB? Also, which formats have you tried?
    – music2myear
    Jan 5, 2017 at 20:44
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    Yes, smaller. I would like an oficial document from whatsapp developers with the supported format list, but I couldn't find one after googleing a long time.
    – FernandoSBS
    Jan 5, 2017 at 21:29
  • Well, we're not exactly a "find it for me" service. If WhatsApp has published their technical documentation, you have as good a chance of finding it as we do. The limited documentation WhatsApp does offer does not appear to include a list of officially supported video formats, and only notes the file size limitation. If you could tell us what format(s) you have tried to upload, it might help.
    – music2myear
    Jan 5, 2017 at 23:08
  • Also, do you get the "Video is not supported" on the sending side or the receiving side? Is the issue that the videos will not play inside the WhatsApp app after they've been sent/received?
    – music2myear
    Jan 5, 2017 at 23:12
  • I get it when I paste the video into the wpp desktop window, on windows. I did not try on my cell phone with the same video because it's pointless to me, since I want to send videos with desktop version of wpp.
    – FernandoSBS
    Jan 6, 2017 at 1:08

2 Answers 2

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I convert video to mp4 using this settings:

  • codec: H.264
  • resolution: 960x540 (quater of FullHD)

  • bitrate: 2-5 Mbit VBR

  • audio codec: aac

  • bitrate: 128kbit

And it's working.

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  • 5
    While this is a valid answer, it appears that the asker was looking for a list of formats, not just one.
    – Karu
    Feb 13, 2017 at 16:17
  • codec: H.264 audio codec: aac MP4 Can be any size
    – Craig
    Jul 21, 2017 at 10:29
  • Have you tried other formats that have worked? Please elaborate.
    – ValarMorghulis
    Jul 21, 2017 at 10:30
  • dude do you perhaps know what settings to use on ffmpeg to encode/convert any video into Android/iOS/Web/whatsapp/Desktop compatiable video, here is my example nodejs code using fluent-ffmpeg pastebin.com/Ep6ExM3H
    – X3R0
    Nov 24, 2020 at 13:33
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    ffmpeg for the above would be something like: ffmpeg -y -i "C:\MyVideo.mkv" -b:v 2M -bufsize 2M -codec:v h264 -b:a 128k -codec:a aac -s 960x540 "C:\MyVideoForWA.mp4". This conversion worked for me also, allowed me to post to WhatsApp from web.whatsapp.com on Windows.
    – nmbell
    May 12, 2023 at 5:05
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I had the same problem, no matter what video format I used, I still coudln't send videos. I think the problem lies in the audio format, I switched to aac audio format and the couple of videos I wanted to send are now working.

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1
  • Your answer doesn't answer the author's question in any significant detail.
    – Ramhound
    Apr 7, 2017 at 22:25

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