IMAGE COMPRESSION
Image Compressor — Shrink Photos to a Target Size
Free in-browser image compressor. Lower quality or aim at a target file size to make JPG and PNG photos smaller. Images never leave your device.
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Shrink an image to a target file size
Make an image smaller without leaving your browser. The compressor re-encodes your photo at a lower quality setting so the file weighs less — what you want when a page loads slowly or an upload form rejects a heavy file. Drag a quality slider to trade sharpness for size by feel, or set a target file size and let the tool find it for you.
Because JPEG compression is lossy, a smaller file always means a little less detail. The slider just lets you decide how much, and everything happens on an HTML canvas on your own machine — a private photo or a client's screenshot is compressed locally and never uploaded.
How a target size is reached
When you set a target, the tool doesn't magically produce an exact file. It lowers the JPEG quality a step, re-encodes, measures the result, and repeats — closing in on your number until the file sits at or just under it. So the output lands close to the target rather than on a precise byte count, and the further down you push, the more visible the quality loss becomes.
If a photo is large and detailed, lowering quality alone may not be enough to reach a small target while staying usable. In that case scaling the pixels down as well is often the only way there — which is why very small targets tend to affect both sharpness and dimensions.
Compressing is not the same as resizing
Compression keeps the same width and height in pixels and only changes how those pixels are encoded, so the file is lighter. Resizing changes the pixel dimensions themselves. If you need a picture to fit an 800px-wide layout, resize it; if you need it under a file-size limit, compress it. Doing both — resize to the display size, then compress — usually gives the best-looking small file.
Target size → typical use and expected quality
| Target | Typical use | Expected quality |
|---|---|---|
| ~10 KB | Tiny thumbnails, favicons, strict upload caps | Heavily degraded on photos |
| ~20 KB | Avatars, forum upload limits | Soft, fine for small display |
| ~30 KB | ID-photo uploads, small thumbnails | Slightly better than 20 KB |
| ~50 KB | Common job/exam/government form caps | Decent, still legible |
| ~100 KB | Blog and product web images | Genuinely good at web size |
| ~200 KB | Large hero images, detailed photos | Close to the original |
| ~1 MB | High-quality web photos under a 1 MB cap | Near-lossless in practice |
Every figure is approximate — the tool approaches the target by iterating on quality, not by hitting an exact byte count.
How to use it
- Drop in the image you want to shrink.
- Move the quality slider, or enter a target size and let the tool aim for it.
- Check the new file size, then download the compressed image.
Frequently asked questions
- Will I lose quality?
- With JPEG, yes, a little — it's a lossy format, so a smaller file discards some fine detail and can add faint blocky artefacts. At high settings the loss is invisible; push the slider low and you'll start to see it.
- Which formats can I compress?
- Common raster images like JPG/JPEG and PNG. JPEG output gives the biggest savings on photos; PNG stays lossless, so its savings are smaller and come mostly from re-encoding.
- Is my image uploaded to a server?
- No. Everything runs on a canvas in your browser, so the image is read, re-encoded, and downloaded entirely on your device. Nothing is sent to us.
- What's the best way to get a small but sharp file?
- Resize the image to the dimensions it will actually be displayed at, then compress. Fewer pixels means the encoder needs less aggressive quality reduction to reach your target, so the result looks cleaner.