How to compress an image
- Add your images. Drop them on the box above, click Choose files, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V (⌘+V on a Mac). You can add many at once.
- Pick how to compress. Quality level applies the same quality to every image. Target file size finds the highest quality that keeps each image under the size you enter, which is what you want for upload forms that say "maximum 100 KB" or "under 2 MB".
- Optionally set a maximum width. Phone photos are often 4000 pixels wide or more. For email or the web, 1600–2000 pixels is plenty, and reducing the dimensions shrinks the file far more than quality alone.
- Download. Each result shows the old and new size and the percentage saved. Download images one at a time or all together as a ZIP file.
Change any setting and every image is compressed again, so you can drag the quality slider and watch the sizes change.
What "quality" actually means
JPG and WebP are lossy formats: they make files small by discarding detail your eyes are unlikely to notice, such as subtle color variation in smooth areas. The quality setting, from 0 to 100, controls how much is discarded. The relationship isn't linear. Going from 100 to 85 often halves the file with no visible change; going from 60 to 30 saves much less and starts to show blocky artifacts around edges and in skies.
| Quality | Typical result for a 12 MP phone photo | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 90–95 | Very close to the original, 3–5 MB | Printing, archiving edits |
| 75–85 | No visible difference at normal size, 1–2 MB | Sharing, websites, most uses |
| 60–70 | Slight softening when zoomed in, 0.6–1 MB | Email attachments, social media |
| Below 50 | Visible blocks and color banding | Thumbnails, when size matters most |
The sizes are rough guides. A photo of a detailed landscape compresses less than a photo of a plain wall.
What happens to PNG files?
PNG is a lossless format, so it has no quality setting: re-saving a PNG gives back almost the same size. In Automatic mode, the compressor converts PNG, GIF and other formats to WebP, which keeps transparency and is usually 60–90% smaller for photos and 25–50% smaller for graphics. If your browser can't create WebP files (Safari), it uses JPG instead, or keeps PNG when the image has transparent areas. JPG stays JPG and WebP stays WebP.
If a compressed result would be bigger than the original, which can happen with images that were already optimized, the tool keeps your original file and tells you.
How to compress an image to 100 KB, 50 KB or 20 KB
Many job portals, government forms and exam registration sites set a size limit for photos and signatures. Choose Target file size, enter the limit in KB and add your image. The tool tries quality levels in a binary search, about eight attempts, and keeps the best one that fits. If even the lowest quality is too large, it reduces the dimensions step by step until it fits. For very small targets such as 20 KB, also set a max width (for example 600 px) so the image doesn't need extreme compression.
Forms often say KB without saying whether they mean 1,000 or 1,024 bytes. This tool counts 1 KB as 1,024 bytes, the same as Windows File Explorer, so "100 KB" here means up to 102,400 bytes. If a form counts 1 KB as 1,000 bytes and rejects your file, enter a slightly lower target, such as 97 KB for a 100 KB limit.
Is it safe to compress private photos here?
Yes. Compression runs in your browser using its built-in image engine. The images are not uploaded to FileWise or anyone else, and nothing is stored after you close the tab. As a side effect, re-encoding removes hidden metadata such as the GPS location and camera details embedded in phone photos, which is useful before you share pictures publicly.
Frequently asked questions
Does compressing an image reduce its quality?
With JPG and WebP, yes, slightly: some fine detail is discarded. At quality 75–85 the difference is very hard to see at normal viewing size. Keep your original if you might want to print or edit the photo later.
Why didn't my PNG get smaller?
If you chose PNG output, the image is saved losslessly and the size barely changes. Use Automatic or WebP output to get a much smaller file that still supports transparency.
How many images can I compress at once?
There's no fixed limit. Images are processed one after another to keep memory use low, so very large batches on a phone just take longer. Download them all at once as a ZIP.
Does this remove EXIF data and location from photos?
Yes. The compressed copy is a newly encoded image, so metadata like GPS coordinates, camera model and date taken are not carried over. Orientation is applied to the pixels first, so photos still appear the right way up.
Can I compress an image to exactly 100 KB?
You can compress it to just under 100 KB. Choose Target file size and enter 100. The tool finds the highest quality that stays under that limit, and scales the image down only if it has to.
Files are processed in your browser and are not uploaded. Always keep a copy of your original images.