What quality setting should I use for a JPEG?

80 is a dependable default for sharing and web use. Go up to 85–90 for photos you want to archive or print, and down to 65–70 for thumbnails and previews. Use the compare divider — the right setting is the lowest one where you cannot spot the difference.

How much smaller will my JPEG get?

It depends on how the file was saved originally. A straight-off-the-camera JPEG often drops 60–85% at quality 80 — a 6 MB shot becoming roughly 1 MB. A file that was already optimized may only give up a little. The savings percent in the stats bar shows the real outcome per file.

Can I compress a JPEG to exactly 100 KB?

This page works quality-first: you pick the look, it reports the size. When a form demands a hard ceiling like 100 KB or 200 KB, use AnyResizer's Resize image to KB tool instead — it tunes quality and dimensions automatically until the output lands under your number.

Does compressing a JPEG change its dimensions?

No. Width and height in pixels are untouched — a 4000×3000 photo stays 4000×3000. Compression only re-encodes how those pixels are stored. If you also want fewer pixels, run it through the Resize JPG tool; combining both gives the smallest files.

What are JPEG artifacts and why do they show up?

JPEG encodes the image in 8×8-pixel blocks. Push quality low enough and the blocks stop agreeing with their neighbors — smooth skies turn patchy and hard edges grow faint echoes, called ringing. Keeping quality at 75 or above avoids visible artifacts in nearly all photos.

Is it bad to compress a JPEG more than once?

Each save discards a little more information, and the damage compounds — the second and third generations look noticeably worse than a single stronger compression would. Keep your original and always compress from it, rather than re-compressing an old output.

Do my photos get uploaded while compressing?

No. The encoder is ImageMagick running as WebAssembly inside your own tab — after the page loads, compression even works with the network switched off. Nothing is sent, stored, or logged anywhere.

Is there any difference between JPG and JPEG?

They are the same format. Early Windows systems allowed only three-letter file extensions, so .jpeg was trimmed to .jpg, and both spellings stuck. This tool accepts either extension and compresses them identically.

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Compress JPEG — pick a quality, watch the size drop

Shrink JPG and JPEG photos with a quality slider and a before/after preview, right in your browser. Compress up to 50 at once and grab them as a ZIP. Free, no signup.

Drop JPEGs to shrink them

JPG and JPEG only · up to 50 files · 100 MB each

What compressing a JPEG actually does

A JPEG stores your photo as thousands of small 8×8-pixel blocks, each described by frequency math rather than raw pixels. The quality setting decides how much fine detail every block keeps. Photographs are full of smooth gradients — skies, skin, shadows — where detail can be trimmed hard before your eye notices anything, which is why a JPEG can lose most of its bytes and none of its look. Note what compression does not touch: dimensions. A 4000×3000 photo stays 4000×3000; it is only described more efficiently.

The practical question is where to set the slider. At 85 a photo is essentially indistinguishable from its source. At 80 — the default here — a typical 6 MB camera JPEG lands around 1 MB. At 70 you have a solid thumbnail setting, and below 60 the trade starts to show as smudged texture in hair, foliage, and lettering. You never have to guess: the stats bar reports the new size and the percent saved while you adjust, and the divider on the preview sweeps between original and compressed on the same photo.

Everything runs on your own device with ImageMagick compiled to WebAssembly, so a batch of fifty finishes in seconds — there is no upload to wait for and no daily cap to hit. Files download individually or as one ZIP, renamed so you can tell them apart from the originals. And if a JPEG is still too big at a sensible quality, the format picker can re-encode it as WebP or AVIF for another sizable cut.

See the size before you save

Set the slider anywhere from 1 to 100 and the stats bar reports the new file size and percent saved — before anything downloads.

Sweep to compare

Drag the divider across the photo to check original and compressed on identical pixels. If you can't find the difference, the quality is right.

Whole folders at once

Queue up to 50 JPEGs at 100 MB each, apply one setting to all of them, and download the finished set as a single ZIP.

Where smaller JPEGs save the day

Beat a CMS upload cap

WordPress installs commonly refuse anything over a few megabytes, and camera JPEGs blow straight past that. Compressed at quality 80 they upload cleanly and render faster on the page.

Attach claim and ticket evidence

Insurance portals and support forms cap each attachment. Fifteen photos of a dented bumper compress in one pass and fit on the first try.

Keep newsletters deliverable

Bulky images make email campaigns load slowly and trip clipping limits. Compressed heroes and product shots keep the layout intact and the send size sane.

Reclaim camera-roll space

Years of phone photos add up to gigabytes. Re-save the keepers at quality 85 and store several times more of them in the same space.

Turn in schoolwork on slow Wi-Fi

Learning platforms reject oversized files, and campus networks crawl on big uploads. A compressed JPEG submits in seconds instead of timing out.

Post within forum limits

Communities still enforce strict per-attachment and avatar caps. Shrink a JPEG to fit the rule without shrinking it to a postage stamp.

Why compress JPEGs here

Quality control you can see — slider, live size readout, and savings percent
A before/after divider on the real photo, not a marketing thumbnail
Room to work: 50 files at up to 100 MB each, no free-tier wall
On-device processing, so big batches finish in seconds

Compress a JPEG in three steps

Drop the JPEGs in
Drag files onto the box or tap to browse. Only .jpg and .jpeg are accepted here, so nothing gets converted by accident.
Set your quality
Start at the default of 80. Check the compare view and the projected size, then nudge the slider until both look right.
Download the result
One photo saves straight to disk; a queue arrives as a ZIP. Your originals stay untouched on your device.

JPEG compression tips

Tip 1:
Match quality to destination: 85 for photos you care about, 75–80 for pages and messages, 65–70 for thumbnails. Under 60, smooth areas start to smear.
Tip 2:
If a photo is still heavy at quality 75, its pixel count is the real culprit — a 6000-pixel-wide image has nowhere to hide. Cut the dimensions down first, then compress.
Tip 3:
Compress from the original file, once. A JPEG that has been saved and re-saved accumulates rounding damage each generation — two passes at 80 look worse than one pass at 70.
Tip 4:
Identical settings produce different sizes on different photos. A foggy portrait might shrink 80%, a leafy forest scene 40% — detail is what costs bytes, and the stats bar tells you the real number.
Tip 5:
When a JPEG must get smaller but the quality floor is reached, switch the output format instead: WebP typically shaves another quarter to a third at the same visual level.

Compress JPEG — common questions

Image Compressor

The all-format version — PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, and BMP welcome too.

Resize image to KB

Name a hard size cap and let it auto-tune quality and dimensions.

Resize JPG

Cut the pixel dimensions — the other half of a truly small file.

JPG to WebP

Re-encode to WebP for extra savings at the same visual quality.

Image Converter

Move between JPG, PNG, WebP, and AVIF in one editor.

Got heavy JPEGs?

Drop up to fifty, set one quality, and download the lighter set in seconds.

Compress my JPEGs