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Compress an image without uploading it

When a photo is too heavy to send, open Compress Image. The picture stays on your device while it gets smaller.

When the picture is too heavy

Mail caps it. A form rejects it. The quick sites ask you to upload the picture first.

I would not hand a client shoot, a child's face, or a scan of a document to a compressor I do not run. The smaller file is not worth a copy sitting on someone else's machine.

It stays on this device

Compress Image does the work in the browser. The privacy page states the same rule. The limit is the memory on that machine, not an account.

JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, and AVIF are the ones the tool lists. HEIC works when the browser can read it. If it cannot, convert with HEIC to JPG first. Those bytes stay on the device.

Three ways to shrink it

These are not three names for one slider.

  • Quality has High, Med, and Low. High keeps more of the picture and less of the saving. Low is the one you use when the form has a hard cap and the photo can stand to soften.
  • Target size aims under the number you give it. On a large photo it may scale the picture down to get there. Use it when the form told you the file must be under a size, and you do not want to guess.
  • Look the same asks you to pick Strict, Balanced, or Loose. Use it when someone will compare the two and notice a soft face or a soft line of type.

After you add the photo, the preview lets you compare before you save. A batch comes back in a zip.

A new file, not a replacement

The smaller picture is a new file. The photo you dropped is still on the device. If Low went too far, you still have the original, and you can run it again at High or with Look the same. That is the advantage. You are not betting the only copy on the first try.

What to do next

If the picture is already inside a PDF, use Compress PDF instead. Shrinking a photo does not remove a location the camera hid in the file. Strip that with Remove EXIF before the photo goes anywhere. If the photo is the wrong shape for a portal form, Resize Image is the other job, and it does not shrink the camera notes either.

How to

  1. Open Compress Image. Drop the photos, or paste one. JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, and AVIF are listed on the page.
  2. Pick Quality, Target size, or Look the same. Quality has High, Med, and Low. Look the same has Strict, Balanced, or Loose. Target size aims under the number, and a large photo may be scaled down.
  3. Look at the preview and compare before you save.
  4. Download the smaller file. Several photos come back in one zip. The originals are still on the device.
  5. If the camera stored a place in the file, open Remove EXIF next. Compressing did not take that out.