5 Quick Ways to Reduce Image & Photo File Size by 80%

Sometimes you need to reduce how many KB or MB an image has in order to upload it to various programs.

Question is, though, how exactly can you do that? 

There are a number of ways to reduce how many KB an image has, such as using a compression website, converting the image from PNG to JPG, shrinking the width and length of the image, screenshotting the image, and finally removing the image’s metadata.

Use TinyPNG to compress images

TinyPNG is perhaps the fastest and easiest way to reduce and compress the KB size of an image with relatively minimal loss in quality. As a bonus, it works with JPG, JPEG, PNG, and WebP image files.

On PC, simply drag and drop the image and wait a few seconds for the compression algorithm to work its magic.

On mobile devices, simply tap on the “drop your images” text and upload your photos by navigating through your phone’s image gallery.

In most cases, the compression algorithm is so light and efficient that you won’t notice any image degradation even after an 80% reduction in file size.

If you don’t like TinyPNG, there are a number of other sites you can use to reduce an image’s file size:

• https://squoosh.app/
• https://imagecompressor.com/

That being said, these image compression websites do have some advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Fast
• Easy to use

Disadvantages:

• No or little control over the algorithm. 
• No control over the final image quality.
• You can compress only a limited number of photos (usually 20 or less).
• Some image compression websites change the name of your images.

Convert the image into JPG/JPEG format

If your images are too big, then it’s possible they are in PNG format instead of JPG/JPEG.

As a rule, PNG images usually have higher visual quality than JPG/JPEG, but as a result, they also have larger file sizes.

On PC, you can see if your image is a PNG or JPEG by right-clicking it -> Properties -> General.

On mobile phones, you can see a photo’s format by clicking on an image’s “Details” or “Info” button in your Gallery app.

If your image is in PNG format, you can convert it to JPG/JPEG which usually reduces the KB size of your image by 50–80%!

If you’re on PC, you can convert an image from PNG to JPG by using Paint. Simply right click image -> Open with Paint -> File -> Save As -> JPEG Picture.

If you are on mobile or have to simultaneously convert multiple images from PNG to JPG, use any one of the sites below:

• https://png2jpg.com/
• https://cloudconvert.com/
• https://convertio.co/png-jpg/

In some cases, converting an image from PNG to JPG, and then compressing it with TinyPNG can result in an image being 90% smaller, for example, from 800 KB to 80 KB!

Resize the image

If the conversion and optimization combo still isn’t enough, then another option to reduce the KB or MB size of an image is to reduce its dimensions.

For example, an image that is 4000 x 4000 pixels has a total of 16 million pixels. However, reducing the image dimensions to 800 x 800 pixels means it will only have 640,000 pixels, 25 times less. This will absolutely have a major impact on the image’s file size.

If you are on PC, you can change a photo’s dimensions by using Paint. Simply right click image -> Open with Paint -> Resize -> Choose your Dimensions -> Save As. 

If you want to resize multiple images at once, or if you are on mobile, then use any of the following sites:

• https://www.birme.net/
• https://bulkresizephotos.com/en
• https://imageresizer.com/

Screenshot the image

A quick and dirty method to reduce the KB or MB of an image is to simply screenshot the image, and then crop it to the right dimensions if need be.

This method can be done on both PC and mobile, with similar effects on both. 

This trick works because screenshots usually have fewer pixels than the original photos.

If you’re using Windows, the best way to screenshot an image is to:

• press Windows Key + Shift + S and select the part of the screen you wish to screenshot.
• After screenshotting, click the Snip & Sketch pop-up -> Save As -> Choose Folder -> Save Image as JPG.

Taking a screenshot on mobile is a bit trickier since every phone manufacturer has their own screenshot commands, especially Android phones.

To take a screenshot as an iPhone user, press the side button and the volume up button at the same time and then quickly release.

You’ll then see a thumbnail appear in the lower-right corner. If you click the thumbnail, it will open the editing features, so all you have to do is crop the screenshot to the size of the image.

To take a screenshot on Android, press the power button and volume down button at the same time and then quickly release.

Just like with iPhones, a thumbnail should appear in the lower right corner. Click and crop your screenshot so it matches the size of the photo.

Remove the photo’s metadata

Another option to reduce an image’s KB or MB size is to remove its metadata.

In the context of images, metadata refers to data such as when the photo was taken, where, what device was used, who took the photo, etc.

Removing this metadata won’t do anything to the image quality, but it can remove a few KB worth of information that you don’t need. 

On top of this, removing metadata helps with privacy since it deletes any data that can be used to track down who made that photo.

To remove an image’s metadata on PC, right click an image -> Properties -> Details -> Remove Properties and Personal Information.