Does Compressing Images Lower Quality? How to Keep Loss Unnoticeable
Key points
- JPEG compression trades a bit of quality for size
- Lower dimensions first; "Normal" quality is often enough
- Avoid re-saving repeatedly
How quality drops
JPEG and WebP compression removes information in places that aren't noticeable, to make files smaller. The smaller you go, the rougher fine detail gets.
Keeping loss unnoticeable
- Lower dimensions (px) first: for on-screen use, 2000px or 1600px is enough.
- Start with "Normal" quality: for many photos you can't see the difference.
- Keep the original: compression is saved as a new file. Don't delete the original.
- Don't compress repeatedly: compressing an already compressed image stacks degradation. Always redo from the original.
What shows loss most
- Small text
- Thin lines and gradients
- Blocky noise in flat areas such as sky
Checking
Zoom to 100% and check for visible roughness before using.
Use "Compress & Resize Images" (free)Tools that go well with this
- Crop & Rotate Image: Crop an image to any area or ratio, and rotate it.
- Convert Image Format (JPG, PNG, WebP): Convert images to JPG, PNG or WebP, several at once.
- Photos to PDF: Combine several photos into one PDF in the order you choose. You can rotate, reorder and set a size limit.