Client-side video compression for attachments over the WhatsApp 16MB limit #15198
achiya-automation
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The problem
WhatsApp caps media at 16MB. An agent who drags in a 40MB video gets a failure with no path forward — the only fix is to leave Chatwoot, compress the file in another tool, and come back.
Why it matters commercially
Any support desk that sends a walkthrough, a product clip, or a recorded answer hits this weekly. Every hit is an agent leaving the tool mid-conversation.
What it would take
VideoEncoder/VideoDecoder(WebCodecs) are available in every browser Chatwoot supports, so the transcode can happen entirely in the agent's tab — no ffmpeg on the server, no background job, no storage cost. Searching the codebase, WebCodecs isn't used anywhere today.Shape: when a selected video exceeds the channel's limit, offer to compress it in place and show the resulting size before sending, rather than rejecting the attachment.
Offer
Working implementation in an MIT-licensed add-on (chatwoot-power-tools). This one is self-contained and mostly front-end — I'd be happy to open a PR directly if that's welcome.
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