smaller file
Make an image smaller without handing it over
For upload ceilings, email attachments and pages that load like treacle. Choose how hard to push and the result reports precisely how much came off.
Processed on your own hardware · never transmitted, never stored
What happens when you drop a file in
The file stays put. Your browser opens it the same way an image viewer would. There is no transfer, which is why there is no upload bar to watch.
An encoder arrives once. The first job on this site pulls down a compiled build of FFmpeg, roughly 30 MB. It is kept afterwards, so every job after the first starts immediately.
Your own hardware does the job. The work happens in this tab, on your processor. A laptop from the last few years handles short clips in well under real time.
The result lands in Downloads. Assembled in memory and handed straight to your browser. Close the tab and every trace of it is gone.
What is actually being thrown away
JPEG compression discards the detail your eye is least equipped to notice — subtle variation inside busy regions, gentle gradients, the precise boundaries of texture. Push harder and more of it departs.
Photographs endure this treatment remarkably well, which is why the format has lasted three decades. Screenshots and graphics endure it badly, because sharp edges and flat colour are the two things the algorithm handles worst.
Dimensions are untouched throughout. An image four thousand pixels across comes back four thousand pixels across; what changes is how many bits describe each one.
The move that beats compressing harder
When a photograph is still too heavy after compression, the answer is usually fewer pixels rather than more aggressive compression. An image four thousand pixels wide displayed at eight hundred is carrying five times the detail anyone will ever see. Resizing sheds that surplus at no visible cost, and doing both achieves far more than either alone.
Common questions
How much smaller?
Photographs commonly halve or better at the Balanced setting. Screenshots compress less well and are usually better served by resizing.
Do dimensions change?
No, only the data per pixel.
Can I run it twice?
You can, but each pass removes more and artefacts accumulate. Returning to the original produces a better result.
Is it uploaded?
No, everything runs in this tab.