Email servers reject attachments over 25MB, and large photos frustrate recipients. Compress your images before sending so they arrive quickly and fit comfortably in the inbox.
This tool compresses images locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
How to use this tool
Add your image
Drag and drop your photo or choose it from your files.
Target quality
JPG is pre-selected. A quality of 70–80 keeps photos looking great while cutting size dramatically.
Check the final size
Aim for under 1MB per photo — plenty for email and well under provider limits.
Download and attach
Download your compressed image and attach it to your email.
What email actually needs
Email is the most size-constrained place an image goes. Most providers cap attachments at 20–25 MB, and many corporate mail systems are stricter — some reject anything over 10 MB, and a few over 5 MB. Base64 encoding used by mail transfer adds roughly 33% on top of the file size, so a 20 MB image becomes about 27 MB on the wire.
The practical target is a few hundred kilobytes per image, which keeps a message with several attachments comfortably small and courteous to the recipient’s inbox.
Sensible targets
| What you are sending | Target size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A photo to a friend or colleague | 200–500 KB | Plenty for screen viewing |
| Several photos in one message | Under 2 MB total | Compress each, or use a link |
| A document scan or receipt | Under 500 KB | Keep text legible; do not over-compress |
| A screenshot for a bug report | Under 300 KB | PNG or lossless WebP; text stays sharp |
| A print-quality image someone will print | Do not email it | Send a link or a transfer service instead |
Resize first, compress second
A modern phone photo is often 4000 pixels wide and 4 MB. Nobody needs that in an email. Resizing to 1600 pixels on the long edge — which still fills a laptop screen — cuts the data by roughly 85% before any compression setting is touched. Doing the resize first means the compressor has far less work to do and the result looks better.
Keeping scans readable
Compressing a scan of a document is the one case where over-compression really bites: JPEG artefacts land on the letter edges and small print becomes smeared. Use PNG or lossless WebP for anything text-heavy, and if it is still too large, reduce the resolution to around 150 DPI rather than crushing the quality.
Frequently asked questions
What size should images be for email?
Under 1MB per image is ideal. Most providers cap attachments at 25MB total, so smaller files mean you can send more photos.
Is JPG best for email?
JPG is the most compatible format for photos in email. Some email clients strip or block other formats.
Does this upload my photos?
No — compression happens entirely in your browser.