Compress JPEG online
Drop in your .jpg or .jpeg photos, choose how much quality to keep, and download smaller JPEGs. The output format is already set to JPEG, so there is nothing to configure.
Your JPEGs are compressed inside this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded to a server, and nothing is stored anywhere.
What the quality number does to a JPEG
JPEG throws away detail on purpose. The encoder splits the image into 8×8 pixel blocks and stores each one as a set of frequency coefficients; the quality number decides how roughly those coefficients are rounded. At 90% the rounding is so fine you would need to flick between the two files to spot it. At 75% a photograph typically drops to a quarter of its original size and still looks right at normal viewing distance. Below about 50% the block structure starts to show as smearing around eyelashes, text and tree branches, and as faint squares in skies.
Questions about JPEG compression
Does re-saving a JPEG lose quality every time?
Yes. Every save is a fresh round of lossy encoding, and the damage stacks — this is called generation loss. Compressing an already-compressed JPEG at 75% does not put it back at 75% of the original; it applies a second round of loss on top of the first. Always start from the best copy you have, and keep that original somewhere rather than overwriting it.
What quality setting keeps a JPEG looking like the original?
For photographs, 80% is the practical ceiling for anyone who wants to be safe. Above roughly 90% the file grows quickly while the visible improvement is almost nothing, because you are spending bytes on detail the eye ignores. Below 60% you are trading real appearance for size. If in doubt, compress at 80%, look at the result full screen, and only go lower if it still looks fine.
Does this work on both .jpg and .jpeg files?
Yes — they are the same format with two spellings of the extension, a leftover from when filenames were limited to three characters. Whichever you feed in, the download comes back with a .jpg extension, which every operating system, email client and upload form accepts.
Can a JPEG be made smaller without losing any quality?
Not with this tool. There are lossless JPEG optimisers that reorder the existing data and strip metadata without re-encoding, and they typically save 5–15%. This page re-encodes the image, which loses a little detail but saves far more — usually 60–80%. If you need byte-for-byte identical pixels, use a lossless optimiser instead.
Do the photos keep their GPS location and camera details?
No. The image is redrawn onto a blank canvas before it is re-encoded, so EXIF metadata — GPS coordinates, camera model, shutter speed, the date it was taken — does not survive. That is a privacy win when you are posting photos publicly, but keep your originals if you sort your library by that data.