Image Compressor

1. Drag and drop an image or click to select a file.
2. Set the maximum file size target (in MB).
3. Optionally set a maximum width/height to also resize the image.
4. Click "Compress" to process the image.
5. Review the size savings and download the compressed image.

What is Image Compression?

Image compression reduces the file size of an image while attempting to maintain acceptable visual quality. This is essential for web performance, email attachments, and storage optimization. Smaller images load faster, use less bandwidth, and improve user experience. This tool compresses images entirely in your browser — no upload required.

Lossy vs Lossless Compression

Lossy compression discards visual data the human eye is least likely to notice — high-frequency detail, subtle color gradients. You can't get the original back. Lossless compression (used by PNG) reduces file size through pattern encoding without any data loss. Lossy gives dramatically smaller files (often 60-90% reduction), while lossless typically achieves only 10-30% reduction. For photographs and web images, lossy almost always wins.

JPEG vs PNG vs WebP

JPEG is best for photographs and images with smooth color transitions — it struggles with sharp edges and text. PNG excels at screenshots, diagrams, logos, and anything with transparency or crisp lines. WebP handles both use cases well and produces files 25-35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality. Unless you need to support very old browsers, WebP is generally the best choice for web delivery.

What Size Reductions to Expect

A typical DSLR photo (5-10 MB) can usually be compressed to 200-500 KB for web use with minimal visible quality loss. Screenshots often compress from 1-3 MB down to 100-300 KB. The biggest gains come from combining compression with resizing — a 4000px-wide image displayed at 800px on screen is wasting 96% of its pixels. Resize first, then compress.