Compress Image Online – Reduce File Size for Free
Upload forms, visa portals, and job applications routinely cap images at 1 MB or even 200 KB, which almost no phone photo meets straight out of the camera. This tool reduces file size two ways: anything wider than 1600 pixels is scaled to 1600, and the image is re-encoded as JPEG at a quality level you control between 40 and 85. A typical 4-5 MB photo lands somewhere between 200 and 600 KB. Move the slider toward smaller files for a hard size cap, toward better quality when the image contains text or fine detail you still need to read — and check the before/after figures shown with the result.
Compression Level
LightDrag & drop your file here
or click to browse
JPEG, PNG, WEBP · Max 30MB
How it works
Upload your JPEG, PNG, or WEBP image.
Adjust the quality slider — lower quality means smaller file size.
Download the compressed image.
Why use this tool
Large images slow down websites and fail upload size limits.
Reduce a 5 MB phone photo to under 500 KB with minimal visible difference.
No account, no watermark, and files are never stored.
If the result is not what you expected
I need to hit a specific KB limit and cannot get under it
Drag the quality slider to its lowest setting and re-run. If it is still too large, the pixel dimensions are the constraint rather than the compression — reduce the image with Resize Image Online first (1000 px wide is plenty for most form uploads), then compress the smaller version.
The file came back the same size or larger
The image was already compressed — a photo that has been through WhatsApp or downloaded from a website has been squeezed once already. The tool detects this and automatically retries at 1200 px wide and quality 50. If it still cannot improve on the original, that file is near its practical floor.
My PNG lost its transparency
Output is always JPEG, which has no transparency channel, so transparent areas are filled. That is the right trade for photos but wrong for logos or signatures — keep those as PNG rather than compressing them here.
The image looks blocky or smeared
That is JPEG compression at low quality, most visible across flat areas like sky or plain paper. Raise the quality slider; if you cannot raise it without breaking a size limit, reduce the dimensions instead. Fewer pixels at good quality almost always looks better than many pixels at bad quality.
Frequently asked questions
- Results vary by image. A typical 4–5 MB smartphone photo compresses to 200–600 KB at balanced quality with no visible degradation for most uses.
- Very wide images (over 1600 px) may be resized as part of compression. Otherwise, pixel dimensions are preserved.
- The tool outputs JPEG, which is the most efficient format for photos. PNG files are converted to JPEG on compression.