Screenshot PNG vs photo PNG
Icons, UI captures, and slides have few colors and hard edges. We run a lossless PNG optimizer (OxiPNG). Transparency stays if the file had it. The file gets smaller; it does not become a photograph. This build does not quantize the palette.
A 12-megapixel export saved as PNG is a different object. Thousands of colors, soft gradients, no real need for an alpha channel. Smart mode will encode that as JPEG. Expect something like several megabytes becoming a few hundred kilobytes, not a 10% trim.
When to keep PNG anyway
Keep PNG if you need a clear edge on a logo, or if the next form only accepts PNG. Target size on this site still encodes to JPEG when that is the only way to hit a hard cap — check the download name before you send it.
How it works
- Drop a PNG. Local decode, no upload.
- Smart mode keeps screenshot-like files as PNG and turns photo-like files into JPEG.
- Need a named cap? Switch to target size. That path prefers JPEG so the number is reachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my transparent background survive?
If the file stays PNG, yes when the alpha is real. If we switch to JPEG to hit a size, the background becomes opaque.
Why is my PNG barely smaller?
It was probably already an optimized screenshot. A lossless pass has a floor. A camera PNG is the case that shrinks a lot.