Lots of websites and forms set a strict upload limit - "photo must be under 10 KB", "signature must be under 20 KB", "image below 100 KB". A photo straight off your phone is usually 2–5 MB, which is hundreds of times too big. Here's how to bring it down to an exact size in under a minute, for free.
There are two levers that control an image's file size:
To hit a tiny target like 10 KB you normally need both: reduce the dimensions and lower the quality. Our tool does this automatically, you just type the target size.
Getting a detailed photo all the way down to 10 KB will soften it, that's just physics, there isn't room for much detail in 10 KB. For a small thumbnail or a signature it looks fine. If you have more headroom (say 100–200 KB), the result will look essentially identical to the original. The tool always keeps the image as sharp as possible for the size you asked for.
Yes. Your image is processed on our server and deleted immediately after the compressed file is returned. We never keep or look at your files. See our Privacy Policy for details.
Every image has a floor. A photo with huge dimensions and lots of fine detail cannot always fit in 10 KB at its current pixel size, no matter how hard the quality is lowered. The fix is to shrink the dimensions first and then compress. Halving the width and height removes three quarters of the pixels, which usually makes the target easy to hit.
For photographs, stay with JPG. For screenshots with flat colours and sharp text, PNG can actually be smaller at the same visual quality. If you are unsure, try both and keep whichever file is smaller and still looks clean. Our JPG vs PNG guide explains why they behave differently.
Each lossy save throws away a little more detail, so quality slowly drops with every round. Always keep your original file untouched and compress a fresh copy each time you need a different size. Never compress a file that was already compressed if you can avoid it.
For a full screen phone photo, 150 to 300 KB at about 1200 pixels wide looks sharp on almost any device. For a small avatar or thumbnail, 20 to 40 KB is plenty. Only print work needs the multi megabyte originals.
Photos usually carry hidden metadata such as the camera model and sometimes GPS coordinates. Re-encoding an image normally drops most of it, which is a useful side effect when you share a photo publicly. If privacy matters, check the final file with your device's file properties before posting.