CompressionQuality
How to Compress Photos Without Losing Much Quality
Shrink photos 70% without breaking them? Learn the difference between lossy and lossless, ideal quality settings, and proper resize tricks that keep photos sharp.
By Moriko··4 min read
Compression isn't magic: there's a trade-off between bytes and detail. The trick is finding the point where the human eye stops noticing the difference.
Practical Quality Rules
- JPG q90: photo sweet spot. Below 92, eyes start seeing blocks in gradient skies.
- WebP q85: equivalent to JPG q90 but 30% smaller, use it for the web.
- AVIF q70: equivalent to JPG q90 at half the size, needs a modern browser.
- PNG: don't compress it lossy; convert to WebP/AVIF instead if it's a photo, not graphics.
Resize Before Compressing
A 6000px photo for Instagram (1080px) is a waste. In FORMATTO, choose 'Half 50%' or 'Custom width 1200px' before compressing, size can drop 75% without touching quality.
Try it: upload a 10MB BMP/TIFF, convert to WebP q85 + resize 50%, it usually lands under 400KB and stays sharp on your phone.
Try it directly in FORMATTO
Everything in this article can be done 100% on your device: no upload, no signup.