You can reduce a JPG’s file size while keeping its pixel dimensions by changing its encoding quality. The image can remain, for example, 1800 × 1200 pixels while using fewer bytes. Its visual detail can change, so compare the result before choosing it.
Keep the dimensions and adjust quality
- Add your JPG images to the tool above.
- Leave Resize large images switched off. This is the default on the dedicated JPG compressor.
- Start with the default quality setting and click Compress images.
- Check the displayed file size. Open Compare and look closely at fine text, faces, gradients and sharp edges.
- If the result is still too large, lower quality a little and click Process again. If detail looks too rough, increase quality and process again.
- Download the version that meets your needs. Open the downloaded image at full resolution for a final check.
What stays the same?
With resizing off, the tool keeps the decoded image’s width and height. The new JPEG encoding may change visible detail, metadata and color rendering. Keeping dimensions does not mean preserving the original file byte for byte, or making a lossless copy.
Why does the tool sometimes keep my original?
With Preserve supported metadata selected, if the new JPG has the same dimensions but is at least as large as the input, the tool returns the original and labels it Original kept. This avoids replacing it with a bigger re-encoded file. Try a lower quality setting if you need more reduction.
What if lowering quality is not enough?
Some images cannot reach a demanding file-size limit at acceptable quality while keeping the same dimensions. If the destination allows it, use smaller dimensions or try another accepted format. If the destination requires a JPG at specific dimensions, follow those requirements and keep the clearest result that fits.
Always work from the original file when comparing settings. Repeatedly compressing an already compressed download can add further loss. The tool retains your selected original while you adjust settings in the same batch.
Technical background: MDN’s JPEG format guide.
Choose whether to keep photo metadata
Preserve supported metadata is selected by default. EXIF dates, camera details and GPS are retained when present, while orientation and dimensions are updated for the newly encoded pixels. PNG text and dates, and JPG comments, stay when keeping their format. XMP, IPTC and original colour profiles are not transferred during re-encoding; embedded preview links are cleared. Retained data counts toward target file sizes.
Choose Remove metadata to omit source metadata. This always re-encodes and disables the original-file fallback, so a result may be larger. For metadata removal without recompressing the image pixels, use Metadata Remover. Downloaded file creation and modification dates are separate from an embedded photo date and may change.
Behind the result
Keeping dimensions preserves the pixel grid, not every original colour value. Lowering JPG quality changes quantization even when width and height are unchanged.
What does encoding mean?
Decoding turns the bytes in an image file into pixels that a browser can display. Encoding turns pixels back into a file, using the rules of JPG, PNG or WebP. It is not encryption. Our compression and conversion tools decode locally, draw the image onto a canvas and call the browser’s canvas.toBlob encoder. The browser supplies the codec, so results can vary between browsers.
How JPG compression works
JPEG commonly splits image information into small blocks, uses a discrete cosine transform to describe patterns within them, then rounds transform coefficients in a step called quantization. Coarser rounding saves space but discards detail. The remaining values are efficiently coded into bytes. Our quality control is passed to the browser encoder; it is not a percentage of original detail retained or a guaranteed percentage reduction. Repeated JPG re-encoding can introduce additional artefacts.
Why the original may be kept
After encoding, the tool compares byte sizes. With Preserve supported metadata selected, when format, dimensions and geometry are unchanged and the new file is not smaller, it keeps the original bytes. This avoids a larger replacement. A retained original also retains its metadata: use the Metadata Remover when privacy cleaning is the goal. ZIP download bundles the files without another lossy image-encoding step.
Where processing happens
Your selected image is processed on your device, without an image upload. Canvas exports are new files and may change embedded metadata or colour information. Keep a master copy for archival work. Animated PNG and animated WebP are rejected; these tools handle static images.
How target-size compression works
Choose 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB or a custom decimal-KB limit. For JPG/WebP, the tool tries quality values from your selected maximum down to 10% and refines a successful bracket with a bounded binary search. When you explicitly allow smaller dimensions, it can also try up to eight downsizing steps. PNG ignores quality. Exact resizer dimensions are preserved. Only a measured output within the byte limit is marked Target met; otherwise the smallest tested candidate is marked Above target. This is a bounded search, not proof of a globally optimal result.
Metadata choice
Preserve supported metadata is the default: EXIF dates, camera and GPS fields are copied, with orientation reset after decoding and dimensions updated. PNG text/dates and JPG comments stay within their format. XMP, IPTC and original colour profiles are not transferred; embedded preview links are cleared. Retained metadata is included in target-size measurements. Remove metadata omits source metadata and disables the original-file fallback. Filesystem download dates are separate.
Explore the details: Browser encodingImage formats — MDN