How to resize and compress an image online for free

Step by step

1. Open the File Editor. Choose the Resize/compress image task.
2. Upload your image. Pick the photo you want to shrink.
3. Set a maximum width and quality. 1200 px wide at 80% quality suits most websites and emails. Go lower if a form needs a smaller file.
4. Download. Check the new file size and save it.

Open the image resizer

Good sizes to aim for

For a website or blog, 1200 to 1600 px wide is plenty. For email attachments, 1000 to 1200 px. For upload forms with a strict limit (often 1 or 2 MB), start at 1200 px and 75% quality and lower the quality until you're under the limit.

Why quality 80% looks the same

JPG and WebP compression throws away detail your eye barely notices. Between about 75% and 90% quality the difference is very hard to see, but the file can be several times smaller.

Resizing vs compressing

Resizing reduces the number of pixels (for example from 4000 to 1200 px wide). Compressing stores those pixels more efficiently by lowering the quality setting. Doing a bit of both gives the biggest saving for the least visible change; this task does both at once.

Questions