What quality should I use?

Around 80 for photographs, where the difference from 100 is invisible and the saving is large. Above 90 you are storing detail nobody will see. Below 70 the artefacts start to show on skin tones and gradients.

Why does my screenshot look terrible?

Because JPEG is built for photographs and discards exactly the sharp edges that text is made of. Use PNG for screenshots and diagrams, or WebP, which handles both kinds of image well.

Can I get back to the original quality?

No. Lossy compression discards data permanently, and each recompression discards a little more. Always keep the original and compress a copy.

Should I use WebP instead of JPEG?

Usually yes for the web — WebP is roughly 25 to 35 per cent smaller at the same visual quality and every current browser supports it. JPEG remains the safer choice for a file that may be opened by older software or emailed to someone.

Compress Image

Shrink photos by quality or to a target file size.

Everything runs inside your browser. Your files never leave your device.

Drop your files here

.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .gif, .bmp, .avif · they stay on this device

Ask about Compress Image

Questions about what this tool does, which option to pick, or what it can and cannot handle.

The question you type here is sent to an AI provider to be answered — your files and whatever you put in the tool above are not, and the assistant cannot see them. Answers are generated and can be wrong. The tool itself is not guessing: it runs deterministic code on your device.

About the Compress Image

Most images on the web are several times larger than they need to be. A photograph straight from a phone is optimised for editing rather than for loading, and re-encoding it at a sensible quality typically removes seventy per cent of the bytes with no visible difference at all.

This compresses using the browser's own encoders. You can aim for a quality level, or give a target file size and let the tool search for the quality that reaches it — the second is what you want when a form refuses anything over two megabytes.

JPEG compression is lossy, and the useful thing to understand is what it discards. It throws away detail the eye is bad at noticing, particularly fine colour variation, while preserving the brightness edges that carry the shape of the image. That is why quality 80 looks identical to quality 100 on a photograph and why it looks obviously wrong on a screenshot of text: sharp black-on-white edges are exactly what the algorithm is designed to smooth.

So the format matters as much as the setting. Photographs want JPEG or WebP. Screenshots, diagrams and anything with text or flat colour want PNG, which is lossless, or WebP, which does both. Compressing a screenshot as JPEG produces the halo of grey fuzz around lettering that gives it away instantly.

Recompressing an already-compressed image loses a little more each time, and it does not come back. Keep the original wherever you can and compress a copy, especially if the file may need to be re-exported at a different size later.

How to use it

1Drop in the images you want smaller.
2Choose a quality level, or set a target file size and let the tool find the quality that reaches it.
3Keep photographs as JPEG or WebP; switch screenshots and diagrams to PNG or WebP instead.
4Compare the before and after sizes, and check the result at full size before replacing the original.

Questions

What quality should I use?: Around 80 for photographs, where the difference from 100 is invisible and the saving is large. Above 90 you are storing detail nobody will see. Below 70 the artefacts start to show on skin tones and gradients.
Why does my screenshot look terrible?: Because JPEG is built for photographs and discards exactly the sharp edges that text is made of. Use PNG for screenshots and diagrams, or WebP, which handles both kinds of image well.
Can I get back to the original quality?: No. Lossy compression discards data permanently, and each recompression discards a little more. Always keep the original and compress a copy.
Should I use WebP instead of JPEG?: Usually yes for the web — WebP is roughly 25 to 35 per cent smaller at the same visual quality and every current browser supports it. JPEG remains the safer choice for a file that may be opened by older software or emailed to someone.