How to Sort Videos by Size on iPhone and Identify the Largest Files

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Is It Possible to Sort Videos by Size Using iOS?

Many iPhone users want to locate and delete large videos to free up storage. A common question is whether iOS allows you to sort videos by file size.

Over time, Apple has improved file management with recent iOS updates—iOS 18 added some helpful tools, and the public beta of iOS 26 brought further enhancements to the Photos app. However, there’s still no built-in “sort by size” option for videos. That feature remains unavailable.

• The default Photos app on iOS provides a feature to view videos, but it lacks a direct option to sort or find the largest videos on iPhone based on file size.

• Users looking to see the largest videos on their iPhone can utilize the ‘Albums‘ feature, which groups videos together, but this still does not offer size-based sorting.

• For a more detailed view of storage usage, users can navigate to ‘Settings’ > ‘General’ > ‘iPhone Storage’. This section provides an overview of storage consumption, though it does not specifically show videos by size.

So as you see iOS still does not offer a direct feature to sort videos by size on iPhone. However, there are different workarounds to this issue, though most of them boil down to third-party options.

Workarounds to Identify Large Videos on iPhone

Since iOS doesn’t have a built-in way to sort videos by size, there are a few workarounds—most of which involve third-party apps.

Half of the effective methods rely on specialized cleaner apps, which we recommend because they’re fast, reliable, and remove the guesswork. If you prefer not to install anything, there are also two native iPhone tools that can help locate large videos. These don’t use the Photos app directly and are less convenient, but they still work in certain scenarios.

Method 1: Use a Specialized Cleaner App

One of the simplest ways to find the largest videos on your iPhone is with a dedicated cleaner app. Why? Most people searching for large video files want to free up storage. Videos take up significant space—a single 4K clip of just a few minutes can consume several gigabytes. Many cleaner apps include a feature to automatically detect large videos, allowing you to review and delete them in just a few steps.

One such app that can sort your videos by size is Clever Cleaner: Free Storage Cleaner App. It’s a new and completely free app from CleverFiles, and we’ve used it in our recent tests. Unlike many so-called “free” apps that limit features or push constant ads, Clever Cleaner offers full functionality at no cost.

Here’s how you can use it:

1. You can type “Clever Cleaner” into the search bar in the App Store, or you can go straight to its App Store page using this link to download it.

2. Open the app and grant permission to access your Photos library.

   

3. At the bottom, you’ll see four categories: Similars, Screenshots, Lives, and Heavies. We’ll explain each of these in detail later, but for now, you need Heavies—this is where your largest files are listed.

   

4. Tap on “Heavies,” and you’ll see all your videos sorted from largest to smallest, with the file size and duration displayed for each one. That’s it—you now have a full list of videos from the Photos app. If you decide to delete them, follow the few more steps below.

5. Tap on any video to open the selection screen. Here, you can swipe left or right to quickly preview and choose which videos to delete. If you want to remove multiple files at once, tap Select All to mark every video in the list.

   

6. As you select videos, you’ll notice that right under the Move to Trash button, the app displays how much space you’ll free up.

   

7. Once you’ve made your selections, tap Move to Trash.

8. Now, at the bottom, you’ll see the Empty Trash button.

   
   
   Once you tap it, the selected files will be sent to the Recently Deleted album in Photos.
   

9. From there, you can either restore them within 30 days or permanently delete them to free up space immediately.

   

Whether you need to delete the largest videos or just want to sort them by size to see how much space each one takes, this app makes it incredibly easy. Plus, it never hurts to have a cleaner app on your iPhone—not just for large videos, but for managing other storage-heavy files as well.

What other features does the app offer, and what do they mean?

• Similars – Probably the most useful feature for clearing out duplicate and near-duplicate photos. You might wonder why it’s needed if the Photos app already has a utility for duplicates, but that tool only catches exact matches. Clever Cleaner goes further, and finds similar shots, like burst shots, repeated angles, and nearly identical images. Tap Smart Cleanup to let the AI handle it automatically, or open each group and decide manually.

• Swipe – Ideal if you don’t want to sort images by category. The app shows all photos grouped by month. You can go through them gradually: swipe right to keep a photo, swipe left to delete it. The process feels fast and intuitive.

• Screenshots – Screenshots pile up fast and often serve no long-term purpose. Clever Cleaner calculates how much space they use and gives you two options: remove them all at once or check them manually before deleting.

• Lives – Live Photos consume more storage than regular ones. This feature converts them to still images, which keeps quality intact while saving space. The app shows real-time storage savings as you select photos.

Note: We’ve tested numerous iPhone cleaner apps to determine which work best. You can check out our list of top-rated free cleaner apps, as well as a separate list of AI-powered cleaners that organize files and free up space faster.

According to its official Clever Cleaner app page, this app will remain free for all early users. Anyone who downloads it now and keeps it installed will have full access for free, forever. The developer, CleverFiles, has used this model for other apps in the past, so their promise is credible. You can find additional proof in this video:

Method 2: Use Third-Party File Management Apps

Unlike cleaner apps like Clever Cleaner—which are designed to free up storage and often combine multiple tools—file management apps focus on browsing, organizing, and manually handling files.

They won’t automatically scan for unused data or offer bulk cleaning suggestions, but they are useful for locating and managing large video files. Many of these apps mirror the contents of your Photos, Files, and sometimes iCloud Drive, giving you built-in options to view, sort, and organize files. While more manual than cleaning apps, they provide precise control over what to keep or delete.

• FileBrowser provides a detailed view of your file system and supports sorting videos by size. In our opinion, the interface looks slightly outdated, but that doesn’t interfere with functionality. You can access any storage location, whether it’s your photo library, the Files app, or iCloud Drive. Once inside, you can sort files by size and quickly find the largest videos. The app also lets you delete, share, move, or manage files directly from within its interface.

  

• Documents: File Manager & Docs works differently and fits better if your main goal is to find and delete large videos. It includes a dedicated feature for cleaning up large files. When enabled, the app displays all videos from your Photos library and allows sorting them by size, either from largest to smallest or the other way around. However, if you want to share or move these videos, you’ll need the paid version. Those extra tools appear separately from the sorting function.

  

Method 3: Use Your iPhone’s Built-In Apps

The previous methods cover most ways to find large videos on your iPhone, whether you just want to view them or delete them. However, for users who prefer not to install any third-party apps, there are still two built-in tools that can help. These let you sort videos by size using only preinstalled iPhone apps.

Keep in mind: these methods aren’t the most convenient and won’t work in every scenario, but they’re useful in specific cases.

3.1 Use the Files App (For Manually Saved Clips)

The first option is the native Files app. This only works for videos stored outside your Photos library, such as those saved to iCloud Drive or On My iPhone. If you’ve manually downloaded or transferred videos to the Files app, you can easily sort them by size to identify the largest files.

Here’s how:

1. Open the Files app.

   

2. Go to the folder where your videos are stored (iCloud Drive, On My iPhone).

3. Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner.

4. Find sorting options and select Size.

   

5. Your files will now be sorted from largest to smallest, making it easy to find the biggest ones.

   

This method won’t work for videos stored in the Photos app, but for clips saved in Files, it provides a built-in way to organize them by size.

3.2 Use the Shortcuts App (For Videos in Photos)

Since most iPhone videos are stored in the Photos app, we looked for a native method to sort them by size without downloading any third-party apps. The best solution is the Shortcuts app, which comes preinstalled on iPhones starting with iOS 13.

Shortcuts is a built-in automation tool that lets you create custom commands based on specific conditions. It can handle many tasks, including storage cleanup, app management, and working with videos in Photos.

If you’ve never used Shortcuts before, the interface may seem a bit tricky—but don’t worry. We’ve outlined the steps clearly below so you can follow them and get the results you need.

How to create the shortcut:

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and tap the + to start a new shortcut.

   

2. Tap Search Action, find the Find Photos option, and select it.

   

3. In the Find Photos block, tap Add Filter and pick Media Type is Video.

   

4. Tap Add Filter again and choose Duration > is greater than > [pick a number] > seconds or minutes, depending on what you want to find (you can’t directly sort by size, but longer videos usually take up more space).

   

5. Tap Search Action again, select Delete Photos, and add it.

   

6. Tap the shortcut name at the top, rename it to Delete large videos, then hit Done.

   

7. Tap the play icon to run the shortcut. The results will appear, showing all videos that match your conditions. From there, you can delete them or preview each one.

   

This method only works based on the filters you set. For example, if you create a shortcut to find videos longer than 3 minutes, it will ignore everything shorter. To catch other clips, you’ll need to adjust the filters and rerun the shortcut.

Final Tips

In our view, the first choice should be cleaner apps, especially if you find a good one for free or at a price that works for you. These apps are specifically designed to free up storage, making them ideal for this task.

Our second recommendation is Shortcuts. While it requires some effort to set up and get used to initially, once you master it, Shortcuts can help not only with sorting large videos but also with many other useful automations on your iPhone.

Remember: a single large video can take up as much space as hundreds of apps, so it’s worth checking other areas as well when trying to free up storage.