How to reduce photo file size
Phone photos are several megabytes each, so they often hit upload and email limits. Here are the ways to shrink them with the least visible loss, in order of impact.
Published · Guides
1. Reduce the dimensions — the biggest win
Modern phones shoot photos more than 4,000 pixels wide, but 1,000–2,000 pixels is plenty for screens and websites. Halving the width and height leaves a quarter of the pixels, so the file shrinks dramatically.
2. Lower the quality setting
JPG and WebP let you choose a quality level when saving. At 70–80% the difference is usually invisible while the file gets much smaller. For screenshots with lots of text, about 85% avoids blurry edges around letters.
3. Use the right format
- Photos belong in JPG or WebP; saving a photo as PNG makes it several times larger.
- WebP is usually smaller than JPG at the same quality, but some older programs and sites don’t accept it.
- Logos and icons with flat colors or transparency are better as PNG.
Shrinking photos in your browser
- Open Compress Image in AlphaConverter and add your photos; several at once is fine.
- Use the quality slider to balance size and quality.
- After converting, compare the original and new sizes in the list, and download several as one ZIP.
Need it even smaller? Use Resize Image to reduce the width and height, then compress again. Photos never leave your device, and the results don’t keep EXIF data such as location.
Avoid these
- Compressing the same photo again and again: each save loses a little more quality. Go from the original to your target settings in one step.
- Deleting originals: keep them for printing or cropping later.