Compress Image Online

Compress image files free — shrink JPG and PNG photos for faster web pages, smaller emails, and quicker uploads. No software, no signup, no watermark.

JPG & PNG compression · Lossless & lossy modes · Files deleted in 24 h · No signup

Compress JPG or PNG online

Drop a JPG or PNG to compress

We'll auto-route it to the right tool — Compress JPG for JPEGs, Compress PNG for PNGs.

Supports JPG · JPEG · PNG

Who needs to compress an image?

Email senders

Hit Gmail's 25 MB and Outlook's 20 MB attachment caps without splitting messages.

  • Compress holiday photo bundles to a single attachment
  • Shrink invoices, scanned IDs, and contracts
  • Batch-compress 50 photos in one go
  • Strip GPS / EXIF before forwarding

Web designers & developers

Boost Core Web Vitals scores and cut hosting bandwidth costs by 60–80 %.

  • Compress hero images and gallery photos
  • Optimise icons, logos and UI screenshots (lossless PNG)
  • Hit specific KB budgets with target-size mode
  • Preserve transparency for overlay graphics

E-commerce & listings

Real-estate, eBay, Etsy and product portals cap each photo at 2–5 MB. Compress in seconds.

  • Reduce phone photos from 8–10 MB to under 2 MB
  • Batch-compress an entire listing's photos
  • Quality presets fine-tuned for product shots
  • No watermark or branding on the output

Cloud storage savers

Cut Dropbox / Google Drive / iCloud storage costs by half on photo archives.

  • Archive thousands of photos at quality 80–85
  • Free a third of your iCloud plan in an afternoon
  • Lossless mode for irreplaceable originals
  • Process whole folders in one batch

What each image compressor does

Tool Compression type Transparency Typical savings Best for
Compress JPG image Lossy (or lossless re-encode) Not supported 40–70 % at quality 85 Photos, screenshots, web galleries
Compress PNG image Lossless only Preserved (alpha channel) 10–40 % Logos, icons, UI graphics, line art

Both compressors run server-side using best-in-class encoders — mozjpeg for JPG and oxipng for PNG. Files are transferred over HTTPS, processed on isolated workers, and automatically deleted within 24 hours. No data is retained, scanned, or used for training.

Lossy vs lossless image compression

Lossy compression selectively discards visual detail the human eye is least likely to notice — small colour shifts, micro-contrast in flat regions, fine high-frequency noise. The trade-off is a much smaller file at the cost of some information that can never be recovered. This is what JPG, WebP, AVIF and HEIC all use. The benefit is dramatic: a typical 8 MB phone photo at quality 85 lands around 1.5–2 MB with no perceptible difference to a viewer; the same photo at quality 60 lands around 600 KB with visible softening and minor blocking in flat sky regions.

Lossless compression re-organises the file's data more efficiently without throwing anything away. Every pixel comes out of the compressor mathematically identical to the input pixel. PNG, GIF, and the "lossless" JPG mode all work this way. Savings are more modest — typically 10–40 % for PNG, less for already-optimised assets — but the result is bit-perfect. Lossless is the right choice for logos, screenshots, line art, UI elements, and any image you might re-edit later (each lossy re-save adds more degradation).

The key practical rule: photographs go in JPG (lossy), graphics and screenshots go in PNG (lossless). If the source is a photograph, lossy is invisible. If the source is text, vector art, or anything with sharp edges, lossy introduces visible ringing artefacts at edges and lossless is the only reasonable choice.

JPG quality settings explained

JPG quality is a number from 1 to 100. Higher = larger file + more detail preserved. The relationship is not linear — going from quality 95 to 85 typically halves the file, while going from 85 to 75 only saves another 30 %. The diminishing returns make 82–85 the universal sweet spot for photographs.

  • Quality 95+ — Almost identical to the original. Use only for archival or print masters. Files are 70 % larger than 85 with no visible benefit.
  • Quality 85 (Balanced default) — Visually identical to the original for nearly every photograph. Files are typically half the size of the original. Recommended for almost all use cases.
  • Quality 75 — Slight softening visible on close inspection. Still excellent for web thumbnails and email attachments.
  • Quality 60 — Noticeable softening and minor blockiness in flat areas. Acceptable for thumbnails and social media previews.
  • Quality below 50 — Visible artefacts. Only useful for extremely bandwidth-constrained contexts.
  • Lossless — Re-encodes Huffman tables and makes the JPG progressive without touching pixel data. Saves 5–15 % with zero quality loss.

How to compress an image online

  1. Open Compress JPG image or Compress PNG image depending on your source format.
  2. Drag your image (or a folder of images) onto the drop zone. Up to 50 files per batch on the free tier.
  3. Pick a quality preset (Small / Balanced / High / Max / Lossless) or use the slider for precise control. The Balanced default (82) is invisible to the eye for most photographs.
  4. Optionally enable Strip EXIF to remove GPS coordinates and other metadata.
  5. Click Compress. Each file finishes in a couple of seconds.
  6. Download the compressed result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours, then are permanently deleted.

Frequently asked questions

How small can I compress an image without losing quality?

At quality 85 most JPG photos can be cut in half with no visible difference. PNG compression is always lossless, so it preserves every pixel — but the file-size savings are more modest (typically 10–40 %). For maximum invisible compression on photos, use JPG at quality 82–85. For pixel-perfect output, use lossless PNG.

Is compressing an image online safe?

Yes. Files travel over HTTPS, are processed on isolated workers, never opened for content scanning, and automatically deleted within 24 hours. We don't retain, fingerprint or train models on uploaded files. Read the full privacy policy for details.

What's the difference between compressing and converting an image?

Compressing keeps the same file format (JPG stays JPG, PNG stays PNG) but reduces the byte size. Converting changes the format itself (e.g. JPG → PNG, HEIC → JPG). Often you do both — for example, converting HEIC to JPG and compressing it for upload to a portal that doesn't accept HEIC.

Will compressing a JPG twice degrade it?

Yes. JPG is lossy, so every re-save discards a little more detail. Compressing a JPG once at quality 85 produces no visible difference, but a second pass softens edges and introduces blocking in flat colour areas. Always work from the highest-quality original you have. Use the Lossless mode if you need to re-encode without further loss.

Can I compress to a target file size?

Yes, the Compress JPG image tool has a target-size mode — enter a KB ceiling (e.g. 200 KB) and we'll iterate quality settings to land at or just under your target. Useful for upload portals with strict file-size limits.