Compare compression quality in real time

Page Summary

The Image Compression Simulator visualizes the trade-off between quality and file size in real time. Generate three versions of a single image at 90%, 70%, and 50% quality, then compare visual quality and the file size savings instantly. A great helper for the image optimization that fast websites depend on.

  • Comparison view: three quality levels side by side
  • Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP
  • Lean output: strips metadata to push the file size down
  • Privacy: images are never stored on a server
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Image Compression

How to use

1
Select an image
Drop or pick a JPG, PNG, or WEBP file
→
2
Compare quality
See visual difference and size at multiple compression levels
→
3
Download the best version
Pick the well-balanced quality and download

🔒 Images are processed in your browser and are never uploaded or stored on any server.

Click or drag and drop an image to analyze

JPG, PNG, WEBP supported
Original file:
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Frequently Asked Questions

Image Compression and Quality

Lossy formats like JPEG and WebP greatly reduce file size as you lower the quality setting. To improve site speed and SEO, the goal is to choose the smallest file size that still looks acceptable visually.

Quality Level Guide

Quality 90 keeps almost no visible degradation. Quality 70 strikes a good balance and is widely used for the web. Quality 50 cuts size aggressively, but fine detail can suffer. Use this tool to compare appearances and find the best value.

Practical Limitations

Compression via the browser's Canvas API only exposes the JPEG and WebP quality parameter; encoder tuning (subsampling mode, DCT precision, progressive JPEG, etc.) depends on the browser implementation. Compared to dedicated tools like ImageMagick or mozjpeg, file size reduction at the same quality may be slightly worse. Lossless PNG optimizers (like Zopfli) and AVIF conversion are not available through the Canvas API.

Trade-offs

Lossy compression is fundamentally a trade-off between size reduction and quality loss. Below quality 70, images containing text (screenshots, charts) show visible block noise and ringing artifacts. Photos tolerate down to about quality 60 with minimal visual loss, but lossy compression is unsuitable for use cases that demand accuracy, such as medical imaging or scanned legal documents. Exif metadata (capture time, GPS, etc.) may be discarded during re-encoding.

Common Q&A

Q: My WebP image will not display in some browsers. IE11 and Safari prior to 13 do not support WebP. Use the HTML picture element with a JPEG fallback, or also export a JPEG using our format conversion tool. Q: Colors changed after compression. JPEG re-encoding can drop the ICC color profile. For consistent web color, embed an sRGB profile in advance. All processing happens in the browser; images are never uploaded.

Image Compression Trends

JPEG (standardized in 1992) has been the web image standard for over 30 years, but the 2010s brought WebP (Google), 2019 brought AVIF (AOM), and 2021 brought JPEG XL (ISO), expanding the options for compression efficiency. As of 2024, WebP browser support exceeds 95%, making it the de facto new standard. AVIF offers even better efficiency, but slow encoding remains a hurdle. JPEG XL had its Chrome support reverted, leaving its future uncertain. From the standpoint of Core Web Vitals (improving LCP), image compression is critically important for SEO.

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