To compress a screen recording for a support ticket, lower its resolution, remove the audio if nobody needs it, re-encode it as MP4, and check the file size before you attach it. On a Mac, Smol does all of that in one drop. The limit you are beating depends on the help desk, as the table shows.
| What you are sending | The limit you hit | The Smol setting |
|---|---|---|
| A customer reproduction sent into Zendesk | 50 MB for a single attached file | Compress video, resolution 1920, MP4; check the output size |
| A clip uploaded in the Intercom Messenger | 100 MB per attachment; 20 MB if the file travels as an email attachment | Resolution 1920, quality Web, audio removed if silent |
| A bug recording on a Jira issue | 1 GB per file by default, up to 2 GB if an admin raises it | Usually fits; compress anyway so developers can open it fast |
| A recording sent by Gmail | 25 MB on personal accounts, and encoding adds about 37% | Compress to roughly 15 MB or less, then check |
What are the Zendesk, Intercom and Jira attachment limits?
Zendesk allows 50 MB per file, Intercom 100 MB per Messenger upload, and Jira Cloud 1 GB per file by default. Each help desk publishes its own cap, and the number changes with how the file arrives.
| Tool | The limit | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk | 50 MB per file | Applies to attachments sent by email, web form and the customer portal. Authenticated end users can add up to 500 files; unauthenticated users are capped at five per web form request | Zendesk |
| Intercom (Messenger) | 100 MB per attachment | No limit on the number of files | Intercom |
| Intercom (email) | 20 MB including attachments | Incoming email over 20 MB is rejected. Outgoing files sent as attachments share the same 20 MB total; files sent as hosted links have no size limit | Intercom |
| Jira Cloud | 1 GB per file by default | An admin can raise it to a 2 GB maximum under Settings, System, Advanced, Attachments | Atlassian |
| Gmail (personal) | 25 MB | Workspace administrators set their own sending limits |
Two details trip people up. Zendesk and Intercom count differently: Zendesk limits each file, while Intercom’s email path limits the whole message. And a limit that is generous on paper, like Jira’s gigabyte, still slows everyone downstream: a developer on a train opens a 3 MB clip long before a 400 MB one.
Why is my screen recording too large to send?
Resolution. macOS records the display at its native size, which on a 14-inch MacBook Pro is 3024 × 1964, almost three times the pixels of a 1080p frame. Our one-minute capture was 56,384,195 bytes, so a screen recording too large to send is the default outcome, not a mistake.
Our test budgeted about a megabyte per second of Retina recording, which puts a 50 MB cap at roughly 50 seconds. Support clips often run longer: a customer walking through three screens, narrating, while you wait for the spinner. The measurements behind this are in our guide to compressing a Mac screen recording, and the sibling advice for sending video by email is in how to compress a video small enough to email.
You can also record smaller to begin with. In the Screenshot toolbar (Shift-Command-5), Apple’s Record a portion of the screen captures just the window that shows the bug, and the toolbar’s Options menu lets you turn the microphone off. Recordings save as .mov. Details are on Apple’s Mac User Guide page.
Which settings compress a screen recording for a support ticket?
Reduce the resolution first, then choose the Web quality label, then remove audio if the clip is silent. Resolution mattered most in our test, and frame rate mattered least. These are starting points, not guarantees: check the output size every time.
| Setting | Start here | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Operation | Compress (video) | Quality labels belong to Compress, not Convert |
| Resolution | 1920 | Measured: 1662 × 1080 from a 3024 × 1964 capture. The option is a bounding box, not an exact width |
| Quality | Web (CRF 28), or High (CRF 24) when small text must stay crisp | Smaller files at Web; High is the default |
| Output | MP4 | MP4 plays in most browsers and help desk viewers |
| Codec | H.265 is the default; choose H.264 if the recipient’s player is unknown | H.265 packs more into fewer bytes, H.264 plays in more places. See H.265 vs H.264 |
| Audio | Remove it for silent reproductions | Fewer streams, and no accidental narration of a customer’s name |
What those settings did on our 56,384,195-byte test recording (Smol 1.0.34, MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro, 60 seconds, no audio in the source):
| Setting | Output | Size | Saved | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default (H.265, High) | 3024 × 1964 | 3,691,160 B | 93.5% | 38.4 s |
| Web quality | 3024 × 1964 | 2,451,184 B | 95.7% | 50.4 s |
| Resolution 1920 | 1662 × 1080 | 1,399,221 B | 97.5% | 16.3 s |
Resolution 1920 was both the smallest and the fastest. In a separate test with another tool, forcing the same recording to 10 fps saved only 13.8% of the bytes, so leave frame rate alone. Those figures describe one screen-heavy recording; a clip with a lot of motion will compress less. The reasoning behind H.264 versus H.265 is in our H.265 vs H.264 comparison.
How do you compress a support recording on a Mac, step by step?
Record, drop, compress, then read the file size before you attach. The loop takes about a minute per clip, and most of that is the encode.
Record only what shows the problem
Press Shift-Command-5, choose the portion tool, and frame the window. A smaller capture region is a smaller file before Smol touches it.Drop the .mov files into Smol
Drag one clip or a whole folder. You can mix screenshots and PDFs in the same batch.Set resolution, quality and audio
Choose resolution 1920, quality Web, output MP4, and remove audio when the clip is silent.Compress and read the result
Smol writes a copy beside the original with a_compressedsuffix, and by default your original stays untouched. Check the size against the cap before attaching.Attach the compressed copy
Upload it to the ticket. If it is still over the limit, pick a lower resolution and run again, or trim dead time first.
What if the compressed recording is still over the limit?
Work down this list, one change per run, and read the file size after each. Smol sets quality and pixel size rather than output bytes, so the size is something you confirm, not something you request.
- Trim the dead time. Fifteen seconds of finding the right window is fifteen seconds of bytes. QuickTime Player’s Trim cuts without re-encoding.
- Lower the resolution again. A smaller frame has fewer pixels to store. Read the smallest text on screen afterward.
- Remove the audio. A silent reproduction gains nothing from a sound track.
- Split the clip. Two 40-second recordings, one per symptom, are easier for an engineer to triage than one four-minute tour.
- Send a link. For Intercom email, hosted files have no size limit, so a hosted link sidesteps the 20 MB total.
What should travel with the recording?
A small file only helps if the ticket explains it. Put the steps, the expected result, the actual result and the app version in the ticket text, and note the timestamp where the problem appears. An engineer who reads a 1.4 MB clip in five seconds still needs to know which second to watch. For stills, our documentation screenshots page covers the same workflow for images, and the Slack and Teams file limits page covers chat uploads.
What can you use today instead of Smol?
Free tools cover part of this, and the cheapest fix is often recording less. Pick Smol when the queue is long or the footage is sensitive; pick the free option when you have one clip.
| Option | Cost | What it does well | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record a smaller portion (Shift-Command-5) | Free, built in | Fewer pixels from the start, no extra step | You must decide before recording; no help with a clip you already have |
| QuickTime Player trim | Free, built in | Cuts dead time without re-encoding, per our sibling post | Does not reduce resolution or bitrate |
| Share a hosted link instead | Depends on the host | Intercom says hosted files sent in email have no size limit | The file lives on someone else’s server; links can expire |
| HandBrake or ffmpeg | Free | Full control; an ffmpeg command in our sibling test cut the clip by 98.2% (half resolution, longer keyframe interval) | A settings maze for agents who only want a smaller file |
| Smol | $29 once | Batch queues, a Finder Quick Action, and nothing leaves the Mac | No target-size control for video; macOS only |
If you already live in HandBrake, our HandBrake comparison is an honest look at where each fits.
How does a support team do this every day?
Write down the settings, recreate them as a preset on each agent’s Mac, and add the Finder Quick Action so compressing is a right-click. Presets are saved per Mac, so a shared settings note is how a team stays consistent.
- The Finder Quick Action adds compress to the right-click menu on a recording.
- Batch compressing videos handles a folder of reproductions at the end of a shift.
- A watched folder can do it hands-off, but only for folders of fresh recordings, since watched folders can make already-optimized files larger.
Pricing for a team has three tiers. Solo is $29 once for one Mac, Team is $49 once for three Macs, and Enterprise is $20 a seat for 5 to 500 seats. A five-agent desk can buy Team plus two Solo licenses, or five Enterprise seats. See pricing.
When is Smol the wrong tool for support recordings?
Skip Smol in these cases, and say so to your team.
- Your agents are on Windows or Linux. Smol runs on macOS only.
- You need annotations, captions or a cursor highlight. That is a recording editor, and Smol does not edit video.
- The exact pixels are the evidence. A rendering bug that depends on a one-pixel gap should not be downscaled; keep the original or use the High quality label at full resolution.
- You must hit a specific number of bytes. Smol sets quality and pixel size for video, not output bytes, so check the file and run again if it is still over.
- The pipeline is automated on a server. A Mac app does not fit a CI job; the Smol API is the server-side option.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress a screen recording for a support ticket?
Lower the resolution, remove audio if the clip is silent, save as MP4, and check the size before attaching. In Smol, drop the recording in, choose Compress, set resolution 1920 and Web quality, then read the output file size. Smol sets quality and pixels, not bytes, so run again at a lower resolution if it is still over the cap.
What is the Zendesk attachment size limit?
Zendesk’s help center gives 50 MB for a single file attached by email, web form or customer portal. Authenticated end users can add up to 500 files, while unauthenticated users get five per web form request. A one-minute Retina recording from a Mac can pass that cap, so compress it before attaching and check the output size.
What is the Intercom file size limit?
Intercom’s help center says 100 MB per attachment uploaded through the Messenger, with no cap on the number of files. Email is stricter: incoming messages over 20 MB, attachments included, are rejected, and outgoing attached files share a 20 MB total. Files sent as hosted links have no size limit, per the same page.
What is the Jira attachment limit?
Atlassian documents a default of 1 GB per file in Jira Cloud, with a maximum of 2 GB that an administrator can set under Settings, System, Advanced, Attachments. A recording usually fits, but a 3 MB clip opens faster than a gigabyte one, which is why support teams compress before attaching.
Why is my screen recording too large to send?
macOS records at the display’s native pixel size. Our 60-second capture on a 14-inch MacBook Pro was 3024 by 1964 and 56,384,195 bytes, about a megabyte per second. That is larger than Zendesk’s 50 MB cap after one minute. Reducing resolution is the largest saving, and recording only part of the screen helps first.
Does compressing a screen recording blur the text?
It can if you push too far. Lower resolution and heavier quality settings both soften small text. Resolution 1920 turned our 3024 by 1964 test clip into 1662 by 1080. Open the compressed copy and read your smallest text. If it is soft, use the High quality label or keep a larger resolution.
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