I’m trying to free up storage on my iPhone after recording a lot of videos, but I can’t figure out how to sort them by file size from largest to smallest. I need help finding the biggest videos fast so I can delete or move them and clear space without going through everything one by one.
Trying to clean up iPhone storage gets dumb fast when videos are the problem. Photos still gives you albums, memories, people, places, and all the usual stuff, but no way to line videos up by file size. Even on iOS 26, there is no plain ‘largest first’ option.
What irritated me was this. When your phone says storage is almost full, you do not need to hunt down 300 tiny screenshots. You need the two or three giant clips sitting there like dead weight. Photos does not help much, so these are the routes I found workable.
Key takeaways
- Photos still does not sort videos by size, including on iOS 26.
- Duration is a rough clue, not a clean answer.
- The quickest route I found was Clever Cleaner, mainly the Heavies section.
- If you do not want another app, Files works, but it is more manual and kind of clunky.
- If you delete videos, clear Recently Deleted too, or your storage number will barely move at first.
Method 1: Use Clever Cleaner if you want the fast route
I tried doing this by hand once. Bad idea. If your goal is to find the biggest files fast, an iPhone cleaner app saves time. The one I stuck with was Clever Cleaner. It was free when I used it, I did not get spammed with ads, and the useful part was not locked off.
The part you want is Heavies. It scans your library and pulls the biggest items into one view. No guessing. No opening fifty clips one by one.
Steps:
- Install Clever Cleaner from the App Store.
- Open it and allow Photos access.
- Tap Heavies at the bottom.
- Tap Sort by, then pick By Size.
- Check the videos you do not want.
- Tap Move to Trash.
- Tap Empty Trash in the app.
What I liked most was the space estimate before deleting. You see how much storage you get back, so it feels less random and less risky.
Method 2: Use Files if you do not want another app
This one works, but it is the kind of workaround people post because Apple left a hole in the system. Files sorts by size. Photos does not. So you move videos into Files, sort them there, then figure out what stays and what goes.
Do this:
- Open Photos.
- Pick the videos you think are big.
- Hit Share, then save them to Files.
- Open Files and go to the folder where you saved them.
- Tap the three-dot menu in the top right.
- Sort by Size.
Now the biggest files rise to the top. Much easier.
The catch is annoying. Saving from Photos to Files can leave you with duplicates. If your real goal is free space, deleting the copy in Files is not enough if the original is still in Photos. I learned this the dumb way.
Method 3: Stay inside Photos and do it the slow way
If you want the built-in-only route, there is no clean size sort. The closest thing is using duration as a shortcut. Longer clips are often larger. Often, not always.
I saw short 4K clips eat more space than older longer videos. So duration helps a bit, then stops helping.
The other option is manual checking:
- Open a video in Photos.
- Swipe up, or tap the info button.
- Look at the file size.
- Repeat until you regret starting.
It works. I would not call it good.
Do not skip Recently Deleted
This part gets people. Deleting a video from Photos does not free the space right away. iPhone moves it into Recently Deleted first. So if you need storage back now, go into Photos, open Recently Deleted, and remove it there too.
If you do not, iOS hangs onto those files for 30 days. Your storage stays clogged, and it feels like nothing changed.
1 Like
You won’t find a native “sort iPhone videos by size, biggest first” button in Photos. Apple still hasn’t done it. I agree with @mikeappsreviewer on that part. Where I disagree a bit is the Files workaround. It’s messy, easy to duplicate stuff, and it wastes time if your goal is fast cleanup.
A better built-in path is Settings, General, iPhone Storage. Wait for it to load. Scroll to Photos. iOS often surfaces large attachments and storage impact there better than Photos does. It’s not a true size-sorted video list, but it points you toward the worst offenders faster than tapping every clip one by one.
If you want a cleaner way, Clever Cleaner is the obvious pick. Clever Cleaner for iPhone storage cleanup groups large videos and photos so you can review the biggest space hogs first, see file sizes clearly, and remove unwanted items faster. This is the part most people want and Apple still does not offer well.
If you want a quick visual walkthrough, watch how to find the biggest videos on your iPhone.
One more tip. Sort your Videos album by newest first before deleting. Newer 4K and 60 fps clips are often huge. A 10 minute 4K/60 video can eat multiple GB, so starting with recent clips saves time. Also check Recently Deleted after, or the storage wont move much for a bit.
Nope, not directly in Photos. Apple still hasn’t added a real biggest-to-smallest video sort, which is kinda wild.
I mostly agree with @mikeappsreviewer and @andarilhonoturno on that part, but I’d push one extra angle: if your goal is to free space fast, check Settings > General > iPhone Storage before diving into manual cleanup. Sometimes iOS flags storage-heavy media and app usage patterns there faster than Photos does. It’s not perfect, but it can save a few mins.
A few practical shortcuts that weren’t really the main focus above:
- Use search in Photos for video types: search things like
4K,60 fps,slow-mo, or even by month/year. Newer high-res clips are usually the monsters. - Check Screen Recordings if you do those. People forget them, and they get huge fast.
- Look at edited videos too. Trimmed or duplicated edits can quietly eat storage.
If you want the least annoying option, Clever Cleaner is probly the easiest because it actually surfaces large files in a way Apple should’ve done already. If you want to read a user discussion first, this is a decent one: real Reddit feedback on Clever Cleaner for iPhone storage cleanup.
One thing I kinda disagree with: using duration as a proxy for size is only half useful. A short 4K HDR clip can absolutely bully a long old 1080p video in file size. So yeah, duration helps, but not by much tbh.
Also, if your videos are synced to iCloud Photos, deleting local stuff may not work the way you expect unless you understand what’s actually stored on-device vs in iCloud. That trips people up alot.
