Compress an image to 1 MB
Plenty of forms, forums and uploaders stop at 1 MB, and a typical modern phone photo is several times that. Type 1024 into the “Target size (KB)” box and the tool looks for the highest quality that fits, and only shrinks the pixel dimensions if quality alone cannot get there. It takes a few seconds, and the image never leaves your browser.
Step by step
- Open the compressor and add your JPG, PNG or WebP image.
- Type 1024 in the “Target size (KB, optional)” box (1 MB is 1024 KB).
- Press Compress. The size shown next to the image is at or under 1 MB, and the download is ready.
- Looks too soft? The Quality slider is the ceiling the tool searches up to. Raise it a notch (free goes up to 80%) and run again; each run starts from your original file, so repeated tries do not stack up quality loss.
What 1 MB looks like
For a photo, 1 MB leaves room for a large picture, around 2000 px or more on the longest side at a high quality. Often a gentle quality reduction is all it takes, with no visible loss on a screen. This is a rough guide: very detailed photos, such as foliage, crowds or fine texture, need more shrinking than simple ones.
The free plan caps output at 2000 px on the longest side and quality at 80%. For nearly all 1 MB targets that is not a problem; if you need the full original resolution, that is part of Pro.
If your image is a PNG
PNG is lossless, so quality plays no part: with a target set, the tool can only reduce the pixel dimensions until the file fits. Screenshots and flat graphics often fit that way. A photo saved as PNG is usually much larger than the same photo as a JPG. Converting between formats is part of Pro ($29 a year or $4 a month), and transparent areas turn white when a PNG becomes a JPG.
When it will not go under 1 MB
- If the image is still over the target at the smallest size tried (100 px on the longest side), the tool says so in the status line instead of handing you a postage stamp silently.
- If you see “already optimal”, your original was already no larger than anything the tool could produce, so you got the original back.
- Images are never enlarged, so a max size bigger than the image changes nothing.
Other target sizes: to 50 KB · to 100 KB · to 200 KB · to 500 KB
Sharing the photo? Strip its location and camera data too: Photo Scrubber
Related: compress an image online · reduce a photo's file size · image too large to upload · resize an image online · compress a PNG online
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