How to compress images
Compression is useful only when the candidate is genuinely lighter and still behaves as expected. Raster quality controls affect decoded pixels, while animated GIF and self-contained SVG follow separate preservation and sanitization checks.
Steps
- 1Add compatible sources
Select raster images, an animated GIF or self-contained SVG and read the format-specific notice before changing any setting.
- 2Create a candidate
Adjust raster quality where available. GIF playback and SVG safety are evaluated through their own guarded processing paths.
- 3Compare before saving
Inspect the candidate size and visual result. Keep the source result when re-encoding would make the file larger.
Key decisions
Why can compression make a file larger?
A source may already be efficiently encoded, and a new encoding can add overhead. File extensions and quality controls do not guarantee a saving.
Why are GIF and SVG handled differently?
A GIF must retain its displayed frames, original timing and loop behavior. SVG remains vector markup and is sanitized rather than treated as a photographic quality slider.
Before you download
Know the limits
- Repeated lossy encoding can soften small text, create halos and damage gradients even when each individual change looks modest.
- SVG style blocks, inline style attributes, active content, animation, embedded images, links and external resources are removed from accepted SVG input.
Verify the copy
Common questions
Does normal compression change image dimensions?
The raster compression path keeps the decoded width and height. Use the resizer when the pixel dimensions should change.
Will an animated GIF become a still image?
No. A candidate is accepted only when displayed frames, timing and loop behavior match; otherwise the source GIF is retained.