How do I compress a photo to send by email?

Open the image compressor, add the photo, and lower the quality slider until the file size sits under your limit. Resizing the photo first — to about 1600 pixels on the long edge — shrinks it further before you compress.

Why are my photos too big to email?

Modern phone cameras produce very large, high-resolution files, often several megabytes each. They are far larger than any screen needs, so resizing and compressing them cuts the size dramatically with no visible loss.

Guide

How to Compress Images for Email

Updated August 11, 2026

What size should an email image be?

Most email services cap a whole message at 20-25 MB, but that is not the number to aim for. Large attachments are slow to send, slow to download on a phone, and some corporate mail systems reject anything over a few megabytes.

A good rule: keep each image under 1 MB, and the whole email under 10 MB. For a handful of photos, aim for 200-500 KB each — small enough to send instantly and view anywhere, large enough to still look good.

The fastest way: compress in your browser

If you know your limit, do not guess blindly. Open the image compressor, drop the photo in, and lower the quality slider until the file size sits comfortably under your limit. The size and a side-by-side preview update as you adjust it, so you can confirm the photo still looks good.

Or compress and resize by hand

If you would rather control it yourself:

Resize first. A photo from a phone is far larger than any screen needs. Resize it to around 1600 pixels on the long edge — plenty for viewing, and a big reduction on its own.
Then compress. Run it through the image compressor at roughly 75-80% quality. For photos, that change is invisible to the eye, and it typically halves the file again.

Together, these two steps reduce a 5 MB photo to around 300 KB with no visible quality drop.

A few practical tips

Send several photos in a single batch, not one per email. It is easier for the recipient and keeps each message under the limit.
Mind the format. JPG is the safe choice for emailed photos — it opens in every mail client. Avoid HEIC, which many recipients cannot view; if your photos are HEIC, convert them to JPG first.
Strip location data. Photos can carry GPS coordinates. Compressing usually removes them, but it is worth knowing what you are sharing.
For many large files, use a link instead. Cloud storage with a share link sidesteps attachment limits entirely.

In short

Aim for a few hundred KB per image. The quickest route is the image compressor; for sharper control, resize first, then compress. Either way it runs in your browser, so the photos are never uploaded.

For more ways to shrink files, see how to reduce image file size.

Frequently asked questions

Aim for under 1 MB per image, and ideally 200-500 KB each. Keep the whole email under 10 MB — well below the 20-25 MB cap most mail services enforce — so it sends fast and is not rejected.