How to Compress an Image Without Making It Look Bad

Image dimensions, color information, transparency, and compression settings all affect file size. A modern camera photo can be several megabytes even when it looks ordinary on a phone screen.

For most web and social uses, moderate JPEG or WebP quality is enough. PNG is useful when you need transparency or sharp graphics, but photographic PNGs can be unnecessarily large.

After compression, compare the file size and visually inspect the output at normal viewing size. Look around faces, text, edges, and gradients for artifacts. The goal is not the lowest possible number; it is an efficient file that still looks right for its purpose.