Guide · Updated 2026-10-06

How to Compress Images Without Losing Quality

Shrink JPG, PNG and WEBP files for faster websites while keeping them sharp. Practical settings that work.

Large images are the most common reason web pages load slowly. A photo straight from a phone can be 4 to 8 MB, while a web page rarely needs more than 200 KB per image. Compression closes that gap with little visible difference.

Pick the right format

• WEBP gives the smallest files for photos and graphics, and every modern browser supports it.
• JPG suits photographs when you need universal compatibility.
• PNG is best for logos, screenshots and anything that needs transparency, but files are larger.

Resize before you compress

If an image will display at 800 pixels wide, a 4,000 pixel original is wasted data. Resize first with the Image Resizer, then compress. This alone often cuts file size by 80 percent.

Use a quality setting of 70 to 80

For photographs, a quality value between 70 and 80 is usually indistinguishable from the original at normal viewing size. Go lower for thumbnails and backgrounds. Always compare the result at 100 percent zoom before publishing.

Steps

1. Open the Image Compressor and choose your image.
2. Select WEBP output and set the quality to about 75.
3. Set a maximum width if the picture is larger than it needs to be.
4. Download the result and check it looks right.

Because the work happens in your browser, your photos are never uploaded.

Common mistakes

• Compressing a JPG repeatedly. Each save loses detail. Always compress from the original file, not from a previous export.
• Using PNG for photographs. A photo saved as PNG is often several times larger than the same photo as WEBP.
• Ignoring display size. Pages shown on phones rarely need images wider than 800 to 1,200 pixels.
• Skipping alt text. Compression helps speed, but descriptive alt text helps accessibility and image search.

How much smaller should the file be?

As a rough guide, hero images should stay under 200 KB, content images under 120 KB and thumbnails under 30 KB. Pages with several large images fail Google's Core Web Vitals checks more often, and slow pages lose visitors before they read anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is WEBP supported everywhere? Yes, all current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari display WEBP. Keep a JPG copy only if you must support very old software.

Does compressing remove metadata? Re-encoding in the browser normally drops EXIF data such as camera model and location, which is useful for privacy before you publish a photo.