The sweet spot for web pictures
Two hundred kilobytes is where most pictures start to look good without being heavy. A phone photo of several megabytes has far more detail than a screen can show, so reducing it to 200 KB usually changes nothing you can see. For a web page, that size also loads quickly even on a mobile connection, which is why many sites ask for it.
A phone photo is still far bigger than 200 KB, so the tool usually reduces the pixels as well as the quality. It does that in the order that looks best: the quality comes down to a medium level first, and the pixels are reduced only as much as the limit needs.
Quality or pixels: what 200 KB gives up
With a limit of 200 KB only two things can give: quality and pixels. The tool keeps the quality at a medium level and lowers the pixels only as far as it must. In our tests a detailed photo of a waterfall and ferns, 3,072 by 2,048 pixels and 3.0 MB, came out at 1,499 by 999 pixels at quality 66, in 193,533 bytes. That is 49 percent of its width. A calmer photo of a lake, 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, kept 77 percent of its width: 1,584 pixels across at quality 69, in 191,749 bytes. Detail decides the outcome more than the limit does: foliage and texture take bytes, smooth water and sky give them back.
If you will show the picture smaller than that, set the largest side first. A picture that is only 800 pixels wide on the page does not need 1,500, and fewer pixels leave more of the 200 KB for quality.
Choosing the format at 200 KB
- JPG works everywhere and is the safe choice for photos.
- WebP gets more quality into the same 200 KB. In our tests it was 4 to 5 percent smaller than JPG at the same look on two detailed photos, and about 45 percent smaller on small or smooth pictures. Use it for your own website, where you know browsers support it.
- PNG is only worth it for pictures with transparency or a few flat colours.
If the picture is much bigger than needed, set the longest side too: shrinking pixels first leaves more of the 200 KB for quality. Resize Image does that on its own.
Product pictures, listings and checking the result
Product and listing pictures have to stay sharp when a visitor zooms in. In our tests, 200 KB held a picture 1,500 to 1,580 pixels wide, which is enough for most zoom views. A plain, evenly lit background helps twice: it compresses better, and edges stay clean. A cluttered background costs bytes that could have gone to the product.
Open the compare view at 100 percent zoom and look at edges, text and faces. Fine textures such as foliage and hair soften first. If a picture looks too soft, either choose a larger limit or crop to the part that matters: the same bytes then go to fewer pixels.
Pictures that add up
Pictures in newsletters, documents and slide decks add up: ten at 200 KB are 2 MB. Compress each picture to the limit you need and keep the originals for anything you will print or edit again.