What actually happens to a JPEG
A JPEG you download from a camera or phone is already compressed. Running it through another JPEG encode throws away more detail. That is why a second pass looks softer than the first, and a third pass looks worse still. If you still have the original, start from that — not from last week’s “compressed” copy.
Photos belong on this page. Screenshots, icons, and text-heavy slides usually look better as PNG. iPhone shots that are still HEIC should go to the HEIC page first; many phones only hand you a JPG after you email or AirDrop them.
Quality 90 vs 70 vs 50
At quality around 90 the file is often still large. You paid for almost-original pixels and got little of the size win people come here for.
Around 70–80 is the usual smart setting. On a phone screen, most snapshots look the same as the original unless you pinch into a face or a flat sky.
Around 50 the savings jump, and so do the artifacts: banding in gradients, muddy skin, crunchy edges. Use it when a form will not budge, not as a default.
How it works
- Drop a .jpg or .jpeg. Nothing is uploaded.
- Smart mode re-encodes around quality 80 and keeps JPEG.
- If a site named a cap, switch to target size and type that number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is JPEG different from JPG?
No. Same format, two extensions. This site uses /compress-jpg. A /compress-jpeg address redirects here.
Can you compress JPEG without losing quality?
Not in a way that shrinks a photo much. Lossless JPEG tricks save a few percent. Real size cuts come from another lossy pass, or from shrinking pixels.