Sending WhatsApp video does not work: errors and solutions

The popular messenger service WhatsApp has more than 1.5 billion users worldwide. This means that almost one in five people on Earth send messages via WhatsApp. However, these messages are not always made up of text only, but also of pictures and videos. The latter in particular are always popular. Whether it’s a holiday video, a video from your last birthday or simply a funny animal video – the small clips are becoming increasingly popular. However, what do you do when you realize you can’t send a WhatsApp video? This can have several causes.

Failed to send WhatsApp video – Error 1: File is too large

You want to send WhatsApp videos, but it doesn’t work? Then it could be because the file is too large. Since all messages go through the WhatsApp servers, the volume is very large and capacities are quickly reached. For this reason, the service, which has been part of Facebook since 2014, has limited the data volume to 16 MB. Therefore, short videos can be sent without any problems. Video lengths are usually between 90 seconds and three minutes – depending on quality and video format.

If the recordings are too large, i.e. over 16 MB, WhatsApp refuses to send them. When sending a video, WhatsApp already compresses the video itself. However, this reduction of the video is not always sufficient, especially if the resolution is too high or the video is too long. In this case, there are free programs and apps that allow you to compress a video yourself. Whether the 16 MB will be enough, or the movie is still too large, is due to various factors – this is always a possibility, especially if the original video is only slightly above the file limit.

Cannot send WhatsApp video – Error 2: No active Internet connection

Can’t send WhatsApp video even though the file is smaller than 16 MB? In this case, the Internet connection is often the cause of the problem. For your smartphone to connect to WhatsApp’s servers, you must have an active Internet connection.
Go to any web page in your browser to check if the Internet connection is sufficient. If your smartphone displays the web page without problems, the connection should also be sufficient to send the video. Alternatively, you can log into a wireless network if the connection from your smartphone is not sufficiently stable.

Failed to send WhatsApp video – Error 3: Date and time not correct

What many don’t know: To establish an active connection to WhatsApp servers, the date and time must be set correctly on the smartphone. This is because the date on your smartphone corresponds to the date that WhatsApp sends to the servers. If there is no agreement, the connection cannot be established.

In most cases, you can correct this error by restarting the device. If this is not the case, you can easily correct the date and time using the settings on your smartphone.

Sending WhatsApp video does not work – Best alternative: Using TransferXL

If you do not want to sacrifice quality and the options mentioned are too complicated for you, TransferXL could help you. Not only when videos are too large, but also when WhatsApp cannot send pictures because they exceed a certain size or there are simply too many.

TransferXL is a service that allows you to upload data directly from the end device to a server via the website. There, the files are safely stored and can be viewed and downloaded by anyone who receives a corresponding link from you (also via WhatsApp, of course). The size that can be sent with TransferXL is 200 GB for users of the Enterprise subscription, which is subject to a fee. This means that very large and even several videos can be sent without any problems and, above all, securely. You can send up to 5 GB free of charge – no account, no app.

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The most important questions and answers about sending videos via WhatsApp

Sending WhatsApp video does not work – What’s the problem?

In most cases, this is because the video files you want to send are too large. WhatsApp limits the size of video files to 16 MB. This allows you to send short video files, but longer ones can cause problems.In addition to file size, an insufficient Internet connection is the most common reason why WhatsApp cannot send video. Log into a WLAN network or change your location to check if the connection is sufficient.
WhatsApp also transmits data to the Messenger service’s servers when sending pictures and videos. However, this is only possible if there is no discrepancy. The date and time must be correct. Restart your smartphone or adjust the date and time in the settings.

What are the options if sending WhatsApp videos does not work?

First of all, you should check your Internet connection. Is it too slow or gets interrupted frequently? You can, for example, compress the video itself to make it smaller. This will, of course, reduce the quality of the video. The same applies to changing the resolution. However, you won’t lose any quality if a longer video of yours is cut, i.e. if scenes can be omitted. Trimming automatically makes the video shorter and smaller.

Sending WhatsApp video does not work: What solution does TransferXL offer?

TransferXL offers its service as an alternative to sending WhatsApp videos. You can send up to 5 GB free of charge. Alternatively – for a fee – you can upload up to 200 GB directly via the website from your end device. The files are stored securely on servers. They can be accessed by anyone who has a link to them. This link is already generated when you upload – you only have to pass it on. By the way: sending files via TransferXL is especially secure because an end-to-end encryption is used. This means that your data is already encrypted while uploading so that third parties cannot access it without a password. WhatsApp is different: Since WhatsApp is part of Facebook, this means that the rights to use the video are with Facebook. While you still own the video, Facebook (and by extension WhatsApp, Instagram and all other related services) reserves the right to use the video.