Why compress wedding photos at all?

Modern cameras and phones produce enormous files. A single RAW export from a wedding DSLR runs 25–40 MB; an iPhone HEIC photo is smaller but still 3–6 MB; a high-resolution mirrorless JPEG is typically 8–14 MB. Multiply by 1,000 photos from a wedding day and you have a 10–40 GB collection — most of which is overkill for sharing online.

Compression exists to make those photos usable without giving up the visual quality that matters. We default to JPG quality 75 — that's the level where average viewers can't tell the difference between the compressed version and the original on a phone or laptop screen, but the file is typically 60–80% smaller.

Three scenarios where compression pays off immediately

  1. Uploading to a wedding album service. Most consumer album services max out at 2048 px on the longest edge, so anything bigger is wasted. Compressing first means faster uploads and (often) smaller invoice line items if you're paying per GB.
  2. Sharing a wedding folder with family. A compressed 50-photo email attachment is roughly 25 MB; uncompressed it's 250 MB+. Most email providers refuse the larger one entirely.
  3. Submitting photos to your videographer. If you're using our AI Wedding Video Generator or any other AI film service, the upload step is faster and the underlying AI runs smoother on smaller JPGs.

What this tool does (and doesn't do)

The compressor uses the browser's built-in Canvas API to re-encode each dropped image at your chosen quality. It supports JPG, PNG, and WebP input and outputs JPG, WebP, or PNG. Optional "Max longest edge" caps the longest side — handy if you know the destination's size limit.

What it doesn't do: it doesn't strip EXIF metadata by default (browsers keep EXIF when re-encoding is done this way; for a metadata strip you'd want a separate tool), and it doesn't batch into a ZIP — it uses the browser's sequential file download instead, which gives better per-file naming control and avoids pulling in a ZIP library.

Recommended quality settings

  • Album upload / family share: Quality 75, max 2048 px (default). Sweet spot for most people.
  • Print at home (A4 / US Letter): Quality 85, no resize. Keeps enough detail for paper prints.
  • Messaging apps / WhatsApp: Quality 60, max 1600 px. Tiny file, still readable.
  • Archive / keep forever: Don't compress. Use TIFF or original RAW.

What to do with compressed wedding photos

Once you've got a tight, well-formatted batch, here are the most common uses:

Frequently asked questions

How much smaller will my photos get?

It depends on the source. A 12 MB DSLR JPEG typically becomes 2–3 MB at quality 75. An iPhone HEIC (converted to JPG first) typically becomes 700 KB–1.5 MB. PNGs with transparency compress least because they lose no data — they only shrink when you set a max edge or convert to JPG.

Will recompressing at 75 hurt my originals?

This tool never touches your originals. It re-encodes a copy and saves it with -min appended to the filename. Re-encoding multiple times does compound loss, so keep your originals somewhere safe and recompress from them if you want a different quality setting later.

Does this work on iPhone / Android?

Yes. Both iOS Safari and modern Android Chrome support the Canvas API and the file picker. On mobile, tap the dropzone to open the camera roll picker.

Is there a file count or size limit?

No hard limit on the page — the practical limit is your device's memory. Each photo is processed in turn, so 500 wedding photos at 4 MP each typically uses 1–2 GB of working memory. If the browser tab crashes, simply re-load the page and add a smaller batch.

Does this preserve EXIF (camera info, dates)?

The Canvas API keeps most EXIF but can drop a few fields depending on browser. For our AI Wedding Video Generator, EXIF is read again from the original files, so this isn't an issue. For archival-grade metadata preservation, use a dedicated EXIF-preserving tool.

More free wedding photo tools

Compressing is step one in the workflow. Use the other tools in this suite to keep going:

HEIC → JPG Photo Collage Crop for Reels Remove Background Add Text All Tools