In-browser image optimizer
Compress an image for email
Email is a bad way to send photographs: clients have attachment limits, and inline images get recompressed behind your back. Two controls fix almost every case — dimensions down to 1600 pixels, quality around 80 — and both are on the same screen.
Get an email attachment under control in three steps
- Check what the limit actually isMost providers allow 20–25 MB per message with attachments, but the practical limit is the recipient’s inbox and their phone’s data plan. A 300 KB photo opens instantly; a 6 MB one waits.
- Resize to 1600 pixels wideThat is more than enough for a full-screen photo on a laptop and twice what a phone shows. It is also the single largest saving you can make.
- Drop quality to 80 and saveJPEG at 80 next to the original is indistinguishable on screen. The size readout updates as you drag, so stop when you are comfortably under your target.
Inline images are recompressed anyway
When a photo is pasted into the body of a message, most email clients re-encode it before sending, at a quality you do not control. Attaching a properly sized file instead keeps the result predictable and often looks better than what the client produces.
What to send instead of an attachment
For more than a couple of photos, use a link. Email attachments are the slowest way to move images: a shared folder or a link to the original costs nothing and avoids both the size limit and the recompression. Compress the file you actually attach, not the copy you keep.
What to expect
| Situation | Dimensions | Quality | Typical size |
|---|---|---|---|
| One photo in a message | 1600 px | 80 | 200–400 KB |
| A few photos attached | 1200 px | 75 | 120–250 KB each |
| Thumbnail in a signature | 400 px | 75 | 20–40 KB |
| Screenshot of a receipt | original | PNG | 60–200 KB |
Providers change their limits; check the one you use. The numbers above are about looking good on screen, not about the cap.
Questions
What size should an email photo be?
Around 1600 pixels on the long edge and under 400 KB is the sweet spot: it fills a laptop screen and still sends instantly on a phone.
Why do my attachments still fail?
Some providers count the encoded message, not just the file, and business inboxes often cap much lower than public ones. If a single 300 KB file is rejected, the limit is usually a few megabytes per message, not per file.
Can I compress several photos at once?
One at a time here, because each comparison view is live. Since nothing is uploaded, the next file starts the moment you drop it — there is no queue.