Bonsai: Video Compressor

Bonsai shrinks your videos to save space on devices and iCloud—preserving memories while cutting the clutter, saving you money, and keeping your library light.

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Inspiration

I was on vacation with my family in Egypt when my iCloud storage quietly crossed 2TB. That’s when it hit me: I was paying a hefty, indefinite subscription just to hold on to my memories. These memories are priceless, of course, but the cost felt like it was stacking up against me, forever.

When Apple introduced 4K video on iPhones, I started shooting almost everything in 4K, thinking I was future-proofing my memories. In reality, it made iCloud storage unmanageable.

Back home, I hacked together a quick app to downsize my 4K videos to 1080p. Even that simple step cut file sizes by around 75%. It saved me hundreds of gigabytes, and eventually grew into something bigger: Bonsai.

What it does

Bonsai analyzes your Photos library and surfaces all videos, sorted by size. You can filter and sort across multiple dimensions, then downsize them: 4K to 1080p, or other options. It lets you adjust bitrate, framerate, codec, and more, while showing an estimated output size and savings.

If you don’t want to tinker, Bonsai also has a Recommended Mode, which automatically picks the best settings for strong savings without noticeable quality loss.

It preserves as much metadata as possible and keeps a history of optimizations, so you can see your “space-saving journey” over time.

How I built it

I’ve been a hobbyist Swift coder for a decade, so I built the first version over a weekend for myself. I tested it on my ~950GB library, where 4K videos alone took up half the space. Downsizing them to 1080p saved me about 350GB without touching bitrate or framerate.

After it worked well for me, I shared it with family and friends. Their feedback helped me refine the app: more intuitive design, more settings for power users, and an auto-mode for everyone else.

In the evenings over the next few weeks, I built out a stable, release-worthy version. I even added a lightweight serverless backend to track the total storage saved by all Bonsai users combined—a sort of global bonsai garden of memory preservation. No user data or video is collected. Just anonimized spacing saving log.

I was at WWDC again this year and met up with some Apple Developers and got feedback on the interface, the API I was using, and the monetization strategy and further refined the app.

Challenges I ran into

The hardest part was balancing configurability with simplicity. There are endless technical parameters for video encoding that could be exposed, but throwing them all at users would make the app overwhelming. I had to opinionate just enough, while leaving room for control.

Another pain point was metadata. Apple’s Photos Library APIs scatter metadata between the Photos database and the video file itself. Preserving metadata felt like searching for needles in haystacks.

Finally, the eternal indie-dev challenge: knowing when to stop polishing and just ship. Releasing an app always feels like cutting it off before it’s “done.”

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

•    The biggest win is that Bonsai has already saved me real money by reducing my iCloud plan’s pressure. That’s tangible value I feel every month.
•    The app may be simple, but it feels well-shaped and purposeful.
•    I love the name. Growing bonsais is about patience and careful trimming, as I've learnt from my mom who has a few Bonsais older than I am. Downsizing videos while still nurturing memories felt like the perfect metaphor.

What I learned

•    Less can be more. Downsizing 4K videos to 1080p preserves memories beautifully while reducing file size dramatically. Most of us don’t need 4K for everyday moments.
•    Design is about restraint. Too many settings overwhelm; too few settings frustrate. The sweet spot lies in guiding users, not forcing them to be experts.
•    People value history. Testers told me they loved seeing their total savings build up over time. The psychological boost of “watching progress grow” was as motivating as the actual freed-up space.
•    Personal problems make the best products. This started with my frustration on vacation, but I realized quickly how many others have the same pain.

What's next for Bonsai

I want Bonsai to grow beyond video. Photos, screenshots, Live Photos, bursts—media libraries are full of clutter. Helping people not only downsize but also clean and curate feels like the natural next step.

I also want to gamify the savings journey. Leaderboards, badges, milestones. A few semi-professional creators told me Bonsai gave them a way to archive raw 4K footage in lower res while keeping their finished products pristine. That’s a recurring use case where gamification can add fun and community.

Personally, I get a little dopamine hit every time I check how much Bonsai has saved me. Watching that number grow is oddly satisfying, and I think others will feel the same.

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