How to Make a Picture Smaller: 3 Techniques to Reduce Image Size

Pictures of relatively large sizes are often difficult to send or keep. It is therefore essential to reduce the size of these images if you want a more efficient transmission and storage process. Cutting down on the data volume in your pictures will result in a much faster loading speed.

Did you know there are numerous methods to reduce the size of your pictures? In this blog post, we’ll discuss three of them, including compressing the image, changing the resolution, and deleting the metadata.

Let’s take a deeper dive into finding out how these techniques can work for you.

When & How to Make a Picture Smaller

Knowing when to reduce the size of a picture is key – to speed up loading time, to conserve bandwidth, and to ensure it upholds its quality. Here are a few situations where resizing comes in handy.

Achieving Picture-Perfect Images for Your Website or Blog

Prior to posting a photo on the web, take time to look at the file size. Oversized pictures can be a major hindrance when it comes to page loading speed and may create an unsatisfactory user experience. Shrink them down to guarantee your guests’ speedy access.

Learn more on How to optimize images for your website.

Sending via Email

If you need to send an image as part of an email, it can be beneficial to make a picture smaller. This not only prevents you from exceeding any attachment limitations, but also means that the email will load more rapidly for the recipient and that both your storage space and theirs are not taken up by a bulky file.

Printing Purposes

When you want to print a picture, especially in oversized formats, the resolution and the size of the image must be taken into account. On the one hand, excessive clarity could cause bigger file sizes and put a strain on the printing process. Conversely, reducing the size of your picture while sustaining an adequate level of printed quality will speed up the printing process and spare excessive use of ink.

Functionality on Mobile Phones

The surge in popularity of mobile devices requires the optimization of pictures when viewed on these devices. Shrinking the size of pictures lowers data use, accelerates loading time, and safeguards storage capacity on mobile phones. To ensure a user-friendly experience, ensuring the relevant resizing of pictures if they are to appear on mobile websites or applications is paramount.

Space Constraints

If you have limited storage space on your computer, external drives, or cloud storage, reducing image sizes can help you make the most of the available capacity. By shrinking and compressing them, you can free up extra room for new files without reducing too much of their sharpness.

Having pinpointed the occasions where scaling down is advantageous, here are the common ways on how to make a picture file smaller. As previously discussed, options include image compression, adjusting the image resolution, and eliminating metadata from the files.

Method 1: How to Make a Picture Smaller by Compression

Data compression technology is applied to digital pictures to reduce their file size and render the storage and transmission of data more efficient. This process is known as image compression.

Given the massive amount of image data, it poses a challenge when it comes to storing, transmitting, and processing - making it essential to know how to make a picture smaller.

Compressing a JPEG

When compressing a JPEG image, quality is the main consideration. Commonly, programs used for graphical improvement proffer opportunities to choose a preferred standard when downloading to JPG. Generally, these decisions amount to a select group of options such as:

• Low
• Medium
• High
• Maximum
• Numerical range from 0 (lowest) to 12 (highest)
• Percentage from 0% (lowest) to 100% (highest)

The surest path to success is to go with the least expensive option that fully serves your purpose.

Testing the ideal quality level can be done, starting at a high setting, and then evaluating the image. If it looks satisfactory, decrease it to observe results, further reducing it if you deem it necessary. Be sure to stay mindful of the purpose throughout, as there is no point in lowering it if the quality becomes unsatisfactory – return to the level that works for your objectives.

To minimize the file size of a JPEG, it is useful to give it a subtle blur before compressing. Images that contain fewer acute angles and delicate nuances tend to be more succinctly preserved. This strategy is especially handy when utilizing a picture as a backdrop. You can add a fuzzy quality to certain parts of an image, leading to considerable storage savings.

Pro Tip: It is often recommended that you save any pictures for future purposes in an uncompressed format such as TIFF or PSD – this is because using the lossy JPEG format to store and keep the original image may result in a lower quality than desired. However, due to its smaller file size, it might be essential to work with JPGs on websites. Therefore, saving two files for each picture (one as a compressed JPG, another as an uncompressed file) will help ensure you have both a copy of the original quality and of the compressed one.

Compressing a PNG

If you routinely work with web graphics, then it would be worth your while to sharpen your skills with the PNG format. This all-purpose image type has soared in popularity, outstripping both JPG and GIF in terms of online usage. Combining components from both file types, it is a powerful tool that offers plenty of potential.

When it comes to the file type PNG, you have two different options. For logos or other graphics with a limited color palette, PNG-8 would be your pick thanks to its similarity to GIFs - plus, these files tend to be on the smaller side in terms of size. If you’re going for images that have more than 256 colors, then you should opt for PNG-24 instead. Despite being of higher quality and lossless quality, these files may take up more space on your device.

• Exporting as PNG-8: Interface resembles GIF, select colors (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, or 256), dither pattern, and transparency.
• Exporting as PNG-24: It’s a lossless format with no quality options. Retains all image information, resulting in larger file sizes.

By knowing these distinctions between PNG-8 and PNG-24, you can learn about how to make a picture smaller and optimize your web graphics efficiently.

Compressing a GIF

For visuals consisting of uncomplicated regions with a small variety of tones, GIF was always the go-to file format. Yet these days, the same outcomes can be accomplished with a smaller file through PNG-8.

If you’re looking to save considerable file size from GIF images, establishing the best suitable color count is key. 256 colors is the conventional limit, but you can decrease it to 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, or 2 for extended savings. For instance, reducing from 33 colors down to 32 can provide meaningful gains in terms of reducing bulk – however, a further decrease from 32 to 31 might not generate the same level of benefits.

When saving or exporting as a GIF, follow these steps below:

1. Select the desired number of colors for your final picture.
2. If you detect any “striping” in smooth color gradients, replace the GIF with an alternate image type. To minimize such striping, utilizing dithering is recommended; the “diffusion” process is typically the most effective.
3. When utilizing pictures with portions that are transparent, make sure to choose the “transparent” option.

Additional information to keep in mind:

• The “Web snap” setting should be ignored and left at zero as it is no longer needed for modern monitors that are capable of reproducing millions of colors.
• The “Matte” setting can be helpful in enveloping the borders of a translucent GIF, however, if blending becomes an issue, then perhaps opting for the PNG format would be a more appropriate solution.
• GIFs have been the prevalent format for animated content for a long time, but recent advances have made PNG a credible competitor in the same space.

These steps, along with our guidance, will help you to maximize the results when you save or export images as GIFs.

Method 2: How to Make a Picture Smaller in Photoshop

Adobe’s Photoshop is renowned for its editing and retouching capabilities, plus it offers an effective image compressor allowing users to reduce the size of their pictures with ease.

Photoshop is a top pick for making a picture file smaller since it enables users to do so without sacrificing their quality.

For reducing the dimensions of a JPEG image without fuss, apply these instructions and tutorials:

1. Add the chosen picture into Photoshop for editing.
2. Find “Export As” as an ideal choice for navigation in the File menu.
3. You can tailor the size and quality of your output in the pop-up window. Bear in mind that if you reduce the dimensions, it will simultaneously impact how sharp it appears.
4. Make these changes accordingly, based on your needs.
5. Click “Export” to save the newly compressed image.

Method 3: How to Make a Picture Smaller With Visual Watermark

For a streamlined and simple approach to image compression, the Compress tool at Visual Watermark is an ideal solution. Forget about downloads, driver installations, or activation keys - the online tool supports JPEG, PNG, and GIF formats and can be accessed directly from your Internet browser for quick image optimization.

The tool offers various options for reducing resolution and compression:

• Best quality: This option preserves picture quality but maintains a higher file size.
• Smaller size: Choosing the smaller size option ensures that pictures will be compressed, creating reduced sizes with a slight degradation in quality.
• Specific file size: Users are able to set the file size they need, and the app will adapt it to a resolution that ensures high standards of quality remain intact.

Rest assured that the system does not alter your downloaded files automatically. Compression occurs only when you choose the appropriate option, ensuring that you receive the expected results.

Conclusion

To sum up, we have explored various methods on how to make a picture smaller and optimize their file sizes. Some techniques to consider include compressing images, altering resolution, erasing metadata, or using the appropriate file formats such as JPG, GIF, or PNG. All of these are surefire methods that guarantee file size shrinkage with minimal degradation.

Different techniques all come with their individual upsides and are best suited for a variety of images and needs. If you want to display them on the web, make your website run efficiently, or save up on space, these methods all offer useful answers.

FAQs

How to make a picture smaller in size?

To make a picture smaller in size, there are many approaches to explore. The standard course of action is employing specialized software or web-based tools that allow for shrinking file sizes without significant loss of clarity. Alternatively, changing the resolution or general proportions can be effective as well.

What is the shortcut to compress an image on Windows, Mac?

No matter what Windows or Mac operating system you’re utilizing, squeezing a picture to a more palatable size typically boils down to the software being employed. From Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Paint to programs like Apple Preview, most image editing and photo management tools provide the function of resizing images and compressing pictures with just a couple of clicks.

How to make a picture smaller without quality loss?

Minimizing a visual’s dimensions can be achieved with no detrimental effect on quality by ingesting a lossless compression format, like PNG, or by employing software that applies lossless compression algorithms. Every piece of information from the initial picture is preserved, even as the file size is decreased, allowing for a memorable snapshot with no sacrifice in clarity.