Guide

How to Reduce JPG File Size (With Real Measured Numbers)

JPG size is controlled by two settings you choose at save time — quality and dimensions — plus one thing you should always remove: metadata. Here is what each one is worth, measured on a 4000×3000 test image.

Quality: the -70% lever

Quality 80 is the default recommendation: -71% with no visible difference on photos. If the image contains small text, test 85 before dropping further.

Dimensions: the -97% lever

Resizing the same image to 1920×1440 before saving at quality 80 produced a 107 KB file — a 97% cut. Ask where the image will actually be viewed; a page image almost never needs more than 1600 px wide. The Image Resizer handles it in one drop.

Metadata: the free kilobytes

EXIF blocks can add 10-100 KB depending on the camera. Re-encoding removes them — and protects location data before you share. EXIF Remover does it without quality loss if you re-encode to PNG/WebP, or as part of a JPG save.

Doing it automatically

If you need an exact limit rather than a quality choice, the JPG Compressor and the target-size tools binary-search the settings until your JPG fits — typically converging in 4-6 passes. For the full picture of all five size levers, see the main file-size guide.