A measured example
| Recipe | Standard: 256-colour palette against lossless, smaller kept |
|---|---|
| Before | 90 KB · 1170 × 2532 · PNG |
| After | 31.9 KB · 1170 × 2532 · PNG, 256 colours |
| Change | −64.5% |
What this does
Compress PNG files without losing transparency: the desk starts at Standard, which tries a 256-colour palette against a lossless recompression for each file and keeps the smaller. The honest limit: a PNG of a photograph stays large as a PNG; the real saving there is a format change, which you choose.
When to use this, and when not
- Use it for screenshots, diagrams, logos and interface graphics.
- For photographs saved as PNG, choose WebP on the recipe bar, or see compress images for website.
- For PNGs that must stay pixel-identical, use compress image without losing quality.
Honest limits
- The palette is built by the UPNG library's quantiser, without dithering, so gradients can band at 128 colours.
- The lossless pass recompresses with the PNG filters tried properly; it is not OxiPNG and squeezes a little less.
- PNG text chunks are not carried across a palette re-encode; the lossless mode keeps or removes them as you choose.
Privacy on this page
Every PNG is decoded and encoded in this tab. See files that get bigger for why some PNGs are kept as they were.
Questions
Palette or lossless: which should I choose?
Lossless (Light) keeps every colour and only recompresses, which on most PNGs saves little. A 256-colour palette (Standard) is what screenshots, diagrams and logos survive without a visible change, and it is usually the large saving. 128 colours (Strong) is the trade for space and shows on gradients. Each file runs both passes and keeps the smaller; the row says which won.
Is transparency kept?
Yes. A PNG stays a PNG here, alpha included. Transparency is only flattened if you choose JPEG as the output format, and then the row says so.
Why is my screenshot not smaller?
A screenshot with few colours is often already stored as efficiently as a PNG can be. If the result is not smaller, the original is kept and the row says grew rather than claiming a saving.
When should a PNG become WebP or JPEG?
When it is a photograph. A photo saved as PNG is several times larger than it needs to be; choose WebP (keeps transparency) or JPEG on the recipe bar. Keep PNG for screenshots, text and graphics with sharp edges.
More on this site: all tools.
Other jobs
More ways to shrink a photo
- Compress photosOne photo or a whole folder, one recipe, a skyline of sizes with a line you drag, and a receipt for every file.
- Compress JPEGOne quality number for every JPEG, printed on every row; capture information kept or removed.
- Compress WebPLossy WebP at a quality you choose, or lossless with every pixel compared.
- Compress iPhone photosHEIC to small JPEG where your browser can open HEIC, with every format change stated on its row.
- Compress image without losing qualityNo re-encode: JPEG Huffman tables rebuilt, PNG recompressed, pixels compared before a row says identical.
- Reduce photo size in KBType a KB target or a range. Quality first, then fewer pixels, checked against the exact bytes written.
- Compress photo to 20 KBSignature-sized limits: the pixels come down as well as the quality, with a legibility floor.
- Compress photo to 50 KBThe 20–50 KB range bank and PAN-style forms ask for, with both ends checked.
- Compress photo to 100 KBQuality first, pixels kept where they can be: the common portal upload limit.
- Compress photo to 200 KBSharp enough to print, under 200 KB: usually quality alone gets there.
- Compress photo to 1 MBMB-scale limits for listings and portals: quality first from 88, pixels only if they must.
- Increase photo size in KBReach a form's minimum honestly: a higher quality, then more pixels up to a limit. Never padding.
- Compress photo for exam formSourced, dated presets for bank, PAN, NEET, SSC and US visa uploads, with a PASS or FAIL line per file.
- Compress signature to 20 KBPaper whitened, ink darkened, cropped to the ink, sized to 140 × 60 and checked.
- Compress photos for emailA per-file ceiling and a measured total for the set, to check against the attachment limit.
- Compress a photo libraryStorage framing: folder structure preserved, originals untouched, gigabytes counted.
- Compress images for websiteWebP at quality 80, long edge 1920, capture information removed, folders kept.
- Reduce image resolutionFewer pixels by percent, exact width × height, long edge or megapixels, at a light quality.