Videos are where most photo-library space goes, and a handful of long clips often outweigh thousands of photos. The trouble is finding them: the Photos app shows videos by date, not by size.
What the Photos app can do
- Open Photos and go to Media Types → Videos to see only videos. The duration shows on each thumbnail, which hints at size, but you can’t sort by it.
- In Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Photos, iOS sometimes offers a recommendation to review personal videos. It’s useful when it appears, but you can’t ask for it.
Sort every video by size
Photo Cleaner measures each video on your device and lists them largest first, with the size on every thumbnail. You can also:
- sort longest first;
- narrow to a size range, such as 100 MB – 1 GB or 1 GB and larger;
- limit the list to a timeframe;
- see how much space your selection frees before you delete.
Why some videos are so big
Size depends on resolution, frame rate and format. With HEVC, the iPhone records about 170 MB per minute at 4K and 30 frames per second, and around 400 MB per minute at 60 frames per second. Slow motion, Cinematic mode and HDR add more. A ten-minute 4K recording can easily pass 2 GB.
To make future videos smaller, open Settings → Camera → Record Video and pick 1080p for everyday clips, keeping 4K for the moments that need it.
What’s usually safe to delete
- Accidental recordings: pocket videos, the floor, a few seconds of nothing.
- Duplicates: the original and the edited export of the same clip.
- Screen recordings you made once to show someone something.
- Clips you’ve already shared and saved somewhere else.
Watch before deleting: tap a video in Photo Cleaner to play it with sound.
Getting the space back
Deleted videos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. Empty it in the Photos app to free the space right away.
