Guide

Can You Compress an Image Without Losing Quality?

Short answer: yes, but only up to a limit.

What is genuinely lossless

• PNG optimization: repacking the same pixels more efficiently. Savings are usually modest.
• Metadata stripping: removing EXIF and other chunks. The pixels are untouched.
• Format conversion to WebP lossless: often 20-30% smaller than PNG for the identical pixels.

What is "visually lossless"

JPG or WebP at high quality (85-95) does discard data, but at normal viewing sizes most people cannot see the difference. For practical purposes this is the best trade-off for photos: large size savings, no perceptible change.

The rule of thumb

Graphics that must remain pixel-perfect (logos, screenshots with small text): stay lossless. Photos: use "visually lossless" lossy compression at quality 80+ and enjoy files that are a fraction of the size.