Image Compressor
Compress JPG, PNG and WEBP images to a smaller file size without visible quality loss.
Lower quality gives a smaller file.
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The Image Compressor makes a photo's file size smaller by saving it again as a JPEG at a quality level you pick, while its width and height in pixels stay exactly as they were. It is meant for pictures that are too heavy to email, attach to a job or exam application, or place on a web page. The image is processed in your browser and is not uploaded to the site's server.
How to compress a photo
- Drop an image on the upload box or tap it to pick a file. JPG, PNG, WebP and iPhone HEIC photos are accepted; HEIC files are converted first, which can take a few seconds. The original's pixel size and file size appear above its preview, for example
3144×2173 · 2387 KB. - Move the Quality slider. It runs from 10% to 100% and starts at 75%.
- Click Process image. The compressed version appears alongside the original with its new size in KB.
- If you are happy with it, click Download result. If not, change the slider and process again. Every run starts from the original file, so trying several settings does not pile up quality loss.
The download is always a .jpg file named after your original, such as photo-ethicalfusion.jpg, whatever format you started with.
What the quality slider changes
JPEG compression splits a picture into small blocks of 8×8 pixels and stores each block as a blend of smooth and detailed patterns. The quality setting decides how roughly those patterns are rounded off. At high settings almost everything is kept; lower down, fine texture and subtle colour shifts are thrown away, which is where most of the saving comes from. Pushed too far, the losses show up as faint squares in smooth areas such as sky or skin, and as smudgy halos around sharp edges and lettering.
Quality numbers are not a shared scale. A setting of 75 here, which uses the browser's own JPEG encoder, will not give the same file as 75 in Photoshop or a phone camera app, so judge the result by eye and by the KB figure rather than by the number.
One side effect is worth knowing. The new file is drawn on a browser canvas and saved from there, so the photo's EXIF metadata is not carried across. That includes the camera model, the date taken and any GPS location. In our test, a photo carrying 20 EXIF tags came out with none, which helps before posting a picture publicly.
A real test: one photo at four settings
We ran a 3144 × 2173 pixel photograph of the Taj Mahal, a 2,387 KB JPEG, through the tool in a Chromium browser at four quality settings. The pixel dimensions stayed the same each time.
| Quality | Result | Saving |
|---|---|---|
| 90% | 1,385 KB | 42% |
| 75% (default) | 739 KB | 69% |
| 60% | 526 KB | 78% |
| 40% | 378 KB | 84% |
Going from 90 to 75 roughly halved the file. Dropping from 75 all the way to 40 saved only another 361 KB, and that lower range is where blockiness starts to show. Even at 40% the photo was still far above the 100 KB or 200 KB caps that many application forms set. At this resolution, quality alone cannot get there; the picture also needs fewer pixels. The resize image in KB tool lets you set a maximum size in KB and shrink the dimensions in the same step.
When the file gets bigger instead of smaller
- Logos and simple graphics. Flat colours and crisp edges are what PNG stores well and JPEG stores badly. Our 21 KB PNG logo came out at 34 KB at quality 90 and 24 KB at 75, and only dropped below the original at 60. Whenever this happens, the result line adds "larger than the original, so try a lower quality or keep the original".
- Transparent PNGs. JPEG cannot hold transparency, so see-through areas are filled with white before saving. That suits a logo going on a white page, but if the background must stay see-through, keep the PNG.
- WebP files. Because the output is always JPEG, a WebP input usually grows. A 353 KB WebP copy of the Taj Mahal photo became 573 KB at quality 75. Google's own measurements put lossy WebP at 25 to 34% smaller than JPEG at equal quality (WebP overview), so where a site accepts WebP, the image to WebP converter is the better route.
- Photos that were already squeezed. Pictures saved from chat apps or social media were usually compressed once already, so re-saving may even add bytes; the same warning then appears.
Choosing a setting for the job
| Use | Start at | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email or chat attachment | 75 | Loss is rarely visible at normal viewing size |
| Web page or blog | 60 to 75 | Also resize to the width actually displayed |
| Scanned page with small text | 85 to 90 | Letters blur first at low settings |
| Form upload with a KB limit | 75, then check | Reduce pixel size if still over the limit |
Always work on a copy, because detail removed by JPEG compression cannot be brought back.
What this tool does not do
- It handles one image per run; there is no batch mode.
- It does not resize, crop or rotate, and it has no target-KB setting.
- It only produces JPEG files, never PNG or WebP.
- Some HEIC variants from newer phones cannot be read. If you see that error, export the photo as JPEG from your phone's gallery first.