How to Compress Images for Email and Uploads

Best settings to start with

1. Use JPG for photos and WebP for website images.
2. Set quality around 70 to 80 for a good size and clarity balance.
3. Use a max width around 1200 to 1600 pixels for ordinary sharing.
4. Download the result and check that text or important details are still readable.

Keep originals

Compression makes a smaller copy. Keep the original image if you may need full quality later for printing, editing, or archiving.

Reduce dimensions before lowering quality

Phone photos can be more than 4000 pixels wide, while an email reader may display them at a fraction of that size. Reducing width removes pixels the recipient would not see and often produces a cleaner result than keeping the full dimensions at a very low quality setting.

For ordinary viewing, start with 1600 pixels on the longest side. Use a larger result for detailed product photos or documents that contain small writing.

Check more than the file size

Open the compressed image at the size the recipient will use. Look at faces, fine text, hair, diagonal lines, and smooth skies. Compression problems often appear first around sharp edges and in gradual color changes.

If the email service still rejects the attachment, reduce dimensions again or send fewer images per message. Do not compress screenshots so heavily that labels become difficult to read.

Choose JPEG, PNG, or WebP

JPEG is the safest choice for sharing photographs. PNG suits screenshots and graphics but may remain large. WebP can be smaller and works well on modern websites, but a recipient's older software may not recognize it. Read the image format comparison before changing formats.