Compress Image — Free Online Image Compressor
Compress Image — Hit a Size Limit Without Wrecking the Photo
People compress images for two quite different reasons, and the right approach differs for each.
You have a hard limit to meet
A portal accepts 100 KB, a form caps at 50 KB, an email bounces above 1 MB. Here the target is fixed and the only question is how to reach it with the least visible damage. Reduce pixel dimensions first — that costs nothing in perceived quality — and only then lower the compression quality. Squeezing a full-resolution photo to a small ceiling produces a soft, blotchy result; shrinking it first does not.
You are optimising for speed
If you are compressing for a website, the file size is a budget rather than a rule. The most effective move is usually to change format rather than compress harder: the same photograph as WebP is around 30% smaller than JPG, and as AVIF closer to half.
What "without losing quality" actually means
Truly lossless compression changes no pixels and typically saves 5–20% on a JPG, mostly by stripping embedded camera data. The 60–80% savings people expect are visually lossless — real information is discarded, but only the kind the human eye does not register. Both are legitimate; they are not the same thing, and anyone advertising 90% lossless is misusing the term.
One habit worth breaking
Every re-save of a JPG recompresses it from scratch, even when nothing changed. After five or six rounds the degradation is plainly visible. Compress once from the best source you have, keep the original separately, and work from the result.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress an image to an exact file size?
Use a target-size tool rather than a quality slider. Set the ceiling you need and the compressor adjusts quality automatically until the output lands at or just below it. Results land close to the target rather than exactly on it, because compressibility depends on image content.
Does compressing remove my GPS location data?
Yes. Stripping metadata removes embedded camera information including GPS coordinates. For any image you publish or send to someone else this is a real privacy gain, not just a size saving.
Why does my image get worse each time I compress it?
Every save of a JPG recalculates the compression from scratch, even with no edits. Compress once from the best available source and work from that result rather than repeatedly reprocessing.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
No. Compression runs through WebAssembly in your browser. This matters because size-limited uploads are usually identity documents, certificates or application photographs.