HOW TO REDUCE A PHOTO

To seamlessly place images on the site, you should try to make them lighter for better loading. When sending several heavy, high-quality photos or more than 30 smaller images, you will also need to reduce the weight to quickly send to the addressee in one message. The number of megabytes of a photo often depends on its size. We figure out how to reduce the weight of images without losing quality.

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A bit of theory: what is the weight and resolution of a photo

Don’t be afraid to compress photos to send or post on websites. The quality will not deteriorate, and the photo will not be damaged.

Resolution is the number of pixels per unit area. The more of them, the heavier the weight of the image. One pixel occupies about three bytes. You can calculate the weight yourself by multiplying the resolution indicators.

The extension is the maximum variant of the approximation of the image without loss of quality. Weight is the number of megabytes that the image occupies.

Without opening a photo, you can learn a lot about its quality. If you know that the size of the picture corresponds to A4, and the weight of the photo is more than two megabytes, the image will be in good or high quality. If you open such photos on a smartphone, remember how long it takes to load and scale pictures with excellent clarity – it depends on the power of the phone.

There are two options for solving the problem.

1. Compression will help reduce the size of the photo
But the quality of the photo will be lost. Not in colors, but in drawing small details of the image. Thus, the expansion and clarity of the photo is smeared.

2. Reducing the number of pixels makes the picture blurry
When trimming, several small squares are combined into one large one. This threatens to completely lose small details in the background.

But both methods will improve the loading of images, make viewing content more pleasant and save time waiting for the sender and recipient of information. The best golden mean is to combine both methods.

How to reduce the size of a photo in a graphic editor

Let’s start with theory. In graphic editors, the function of reducing images is called interpolation. In turn, it has several modes:

• point,
• bilinear,
• bicubic.

Bilinear and bicubic are the basic scaling system. And the dot algorithm works with the picture according to its color scheme. Let’s make a comparison table. Note that the processing time is a conditional indicator, since it depends on the power of the computer and the image extension. The better the performance of the laptop, the faster it processes pictures.

The bicubic compression algorithm is considered the best for a reason. The image after such a manipulation is of the highest quality and differs little from the source.

A practical guide is below.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe is a Photoshop that is full of functionality and possibilities for changing pictures. The speed of the work program depends on the video card of the computer.

Photoshop has the advantage of saving the image without losing image quality. That is, it preserves, but does not distort. To do this, click:

1. File.
2. Save for the web.
3. Select JPG format.
4. Specify the desired size, choosing the quality from “highest” to “best”.
5. Optionally, specify the number of pixels and the type of interpolation at the bottom of the window.
6. Click “Save …”.

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Paint

The standard application from Windows is Paint. It does not have such wide functionality as Adobe Photoshop. But the big advantage of Paint is its ergonomics. The program weighs little and practically does not use the computer’s RAM. Photo compression is only possible by reducing the aspect ratio. How to get results:

• Open photo in Paint.
• Click on the “File” tab.
• Find “Resize” and click.
• Specify the height and width of the image.

• Check the “Keep aspect ratio” checkbox.
• Save as a regular JPEG image, choosing the size.

Thus, the file will decrease only by 8-10%.

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Reducing the size of images in online services

If you are too lazy to install programs, in this case there are online services for reducing the size of pictures. They are simple in functionality: they compress through point compression or change the proportions of the photo.

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Optimizilla

This is an effective online photo weight reduction service. You need to open and follow the native directions. It’s convenient because it’s understandable. When you load the site, you already know where to click next, because everything is written. You can upload up to 20 images and use the slider to adjust the quality, and with it the weight of each image. Thanks to compression, you can reduce the weight of a photo by up to 50% of its original size without a noticeable loss in quality. How to use the program:

1. Go to the official website of the Optimizilla program.
2. Find the “Upload” button, click on it and select an image.
3. Wait while the program reduces the photo.
4. On the left will be the original file, and on the right, ready for your work or transfer;
5. Select the quality and click “Download all”.

In this program, files up to 1 MB are reduced quickly. For larger images, you can monitor the interpolation percentage on the picture icon. If you click “Download all”, the archive of recycled photos will be downloaded.

Image Optimizer

The site is native, which means: when you enter the site, everything is already written where to click and what to do next. Supports compression of four formats: JPG, GIF, PNG and TIFF. This is one of the first image reduction programs. You can make a photo lighter by 30% and not lose quality. The official version is paid. An unregistered user will be able to use it only for the first 30 days. Then you have to pay from $ 7 per month.

The program has a plugin that runs on WordPress. If the site is on this platform, the tool is perfect for optimizing image and page loading.

Working with the program is easy, in three steps.

1. Download the Image Optimazer plugin from the official website.
2. If this program offers to register, you need to register.
3. Choose the level of compression: normal, aggressive or ultra;

If you want to use it for free, you will have to save on photo processing. After all, only 25 MB per month is available.

Compressor.io

This online service squeezes the maximum so that the picture is light in weight and loads quickly. The site is ready to do everything for you, you just have to upload a picture by clicking on the appropriate button. Everything is simple and clear. Cases have been recorded when, with an 82% reduction in the weight of an image, its quality did not change. There is also a function to upload the finished photo to a computer or to cloud drives.

There are disadvantages: files are uploaded one at a time, their maximum weight should not exceed 10 MB. Photo quality improves after weight reduction work. They become similar to frames already processed with chiaroscuro effects in professional Photoshop. In the near future, the creator of the Compressor.io program is preparing to release an offline version with improvements. Step by step how to work with this program:

1. Go to the official site Compressor.io.
2. At the top right, above the photo upload window, select the type of compression.
3. Loading an image. The site can process a photo up to 10 Mb for free;
4. At the bottom right there is a button “Download all”. Click on her. The picture will be on your computer and ready for further use.

TinyPNG

The operation of this site is based on the selective reduction of colors. It only works with two formats: PNG and JPEG. The system is fully automatic, it is impossible to control the reduction process on the site. But the creator promises that he will carefully compress photos by 85% or more. It works on the principle of “go in and understand what to press.” How to use Tiny PNG:

• Open the official website of Tiny PNG.
• Upload your picture in a special window.
• Wait while the program processes the photo.
• Click on the “Download All” button.

IMGonline

Free site with compression and adjustment features. Reducing the image to the desired result is configured manually. You just need to write the size of the pixels. The percentage of image compression on this site can vary from 1% to 100%. Although the online service gives a recommendation: the best photo reduction will be at the level of 75-95%. The site itself will show where to download and what to click. For this you should:

• go to the official website of the IMGonline program;
• in the menu bar, select “Compress” by clicking on the subtitle;
• upload an image by the first point;
• in the second paragraph, select compression options;
• click “OK”;
• download image.

Ready! The image will be compressed according to your parameters.

How to reduce photo weight in WinRAR

This program does not compress images for viewing on the site. She reduces them to send to the archive. Installation on a computer is free. Supports compression for folder formats: ZIP, RAR and RAR4. Knows how to make easier not only photos, but also documents, videos, music. For viewing or listening, the content is unzipped into a new folder.

After reducing the size of all documents, a password can be set for the archive. This is convenient because it protects you and the recipient from fraud. And yes, WinRAR is installed even on the weakest Windows 2003 computers. RAM of any size allows you to archive files with WinRAR, compressing the information to the optimal weight for sending or publishing. How to compress files with this program?

1. Select one or more files by holding Ctrl.
2. Right-click to bring up the menu and click “Add to archive”, click “Archive”.
3. Wait for WinRAR to compress files.
4. Check the finished folder with your images.

Another plus of this program is that even without connecting to the Internet, you can compress files.

For each case, you need to choose a program individually. To give accurate advice, you need to know how powerful your gadget is. If online services for reducing photos are “heavy” for your computer and it takes a very long time to download them, consider buying a new device.

You can upgrade your device by emptying the recycle bin, cache, or deleting files from your desktop. It is also important to remember that if you want to change the internals of a computer, this should be done with specialists. But sites are loaded by everyone and always, even if it takes a little longer to wait for loading from the computer.

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