The compression of photos and images to reduce their size has taken on a lot of importance in recent years and especially for companies as recognized worldwide, such as Google and Facebook . Mainly because the photographs do not stop increasing their quality (and therefore their weight) and they do so at a higher rate than companies can cover with gigantic server farms and millions of hard drives, thus requiring their compression but without losing its quality .
For its part, reduce the size of images before uploading them to a website, blog or social network , this is one of the most important factors to optimize the speed of the same . And is that if the illustrations added in the design of a web page or the articles of a blog created in WordPress or any other platform type Blogger etc, which are now taking so much value; are not improved correctly, these photos will consume a lot of resources from the hosting or server and will make it much slower .
Indeed, it is essential to know the main alternatives to compress photos and images without losing the quality of these . Since apart from being the most seductive contents of a text, it is also a fundamental need for those who manage websites today. It is important to note that when talking about compressing photographs , it refers to two actions that are closely related to each other and are: decrease the weight of an image and reduce the size of it (decreases both the size in number of Mb or Kb as well as in number of pixels).
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Steps to compress and reduce the size of a photo to weigh less
While it is true, reduce the size of an image when you are designing a website, an online store or entering digital marketing, it is a key point to have product images or photos attractive fully optimized and that its size is not excessive without losing quality and appreciation to the human eye, this is a priority today goodbye so that it does not affect the loading speed of your website.
On many occasions, people are unaware of this issue or simply decide not to do so and if they add a bad choice of hosting apart, the most common result will be several inconveniences to load normally. Of course, taking into account that the compression of the images should not be excessive , since thus the quality and sharpness of them are reduced, in the middle is the virtue.
This is why, it is better to avoid future problems from adequate knowledge about the mechanisms that exist for compression of photographic content by reducing its size so that it weighs less but without losing its quality . So below we offer different options for you to choose the one you like.
Using graphic design software
With the great advancement of technology, there are various free and paid programs , with which you can optimize images easily and quickly and also, ensuring their quality. Through these graphic design softwares , it is possible to establish the measures and weight in MB that you require for a specific photograph that you must insert into your project.
In addition, for your benefit, these programs mostly have an option known as “ Save for web ” or some other similar name, which allows to significantly reduce the weight of images without spoiling its quality . All this around the improvement options you want to use within the program before saving.
With online tools
It is a solution that gathers different sites that you can easily find on the Internet and in which you can carry out an effective compression of photos without having to previously install a software on your computer . For the most part, these online tools are very complete and provide a wide range of sections to make a perfect optimization of your illustrations or photographs in a practical, simple and subtle way.
Best of all, they are focused on being used by any type of user . Thus, regardless of the knowledge that each one possesses in this type of graphic design actions, arrangements and retouching of images.
The main advantages of using online tools for compression and image reduction with total quality are:
- These are free online sites , that is, the vast majority of these tools can be used completely free.
- Compressing an image through these tools, is very fast ; in just a few seconds you will have the file you want with up to 75% less weight .
- The ease of use that integrate is really unique, given that with simple steps you make this process very comfortable for everyday use.
- Some tools allow compressing large volumes of images , up to 20 jpg or png files at same time.
- Some of them can minimize much more than 5 MB of weight per photo .
Using browser extensions
In case you use the Opera browser, if you don’t know it, it is important that you know that one of its best functions is the recognized “ Turbo Mode ”. This reduces the size of the content of a website so that you can navigate faster and also ensure excellent data savings.
Google Data Saver
As for Google search , it has its own extension very similar to the one mentioned above and is known as “ Data economizer ” that works when using Company servers to perfectly optimize the websites you access and also reduce data usage significantly. In addition, it is a fairly simple extension that does not work with secure web pages (HTTPS).
Bandwidth Hero
Now, people who use Chrome or Firefox do not have this beneficial alternative integrated to the same Opera browser. But luckily, these search engines have extensions like Bandwidth Hero , which fulfill a similar function. Since its main objective is to compress the images on the web pages or blogs you visit to save bandwidth .
Many estimate it as “ The hero that saves bandwidth ” and is a fairly timely solution for those Firefox users or even, for those of Chrome who refuse to use Google servers, and of course for those who want to reduce data on different HTTPS pages. Also taking into account people who want to set up their own proxy server to save image data ensuring their quality or who believe they are not saving enough with Google’s data economizer.
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Once the extension is active , it hinders all image upload requests made by web pages or blogs and then sends each image to the compression proxy server >. After this proxy is dedicated to download the original image and transform it into a grayscale image in WebP / JPEG format , to proceed to return them to the browser.
This can be translated into finally, you will see the web in black and white while Bandwidth Hero is active , but by advantage, the saving of megabytes of data is very remarkable. This can benefit you completely when you use a limited data connection or it is very slow, such as a public place.
List of the best tools and applications to compress the weight of an image
Here we provide you with a completely timely information about the most recognized software, online tools and applications so you can start enjoying them from now :
Photoshop
It is the world’s leading software for photo editing . From it, you can reduce the size of any snapshot or image you want to include on your website, just by using the option “ Image – Image size ” and accommodate it to your liking.
Now, when you have configured its size and want to save it, to make sure you optimize the weight of the illustration and its quality, you must click on “ File> Save for web and devices… ” and finally select the format in which you want to keep your file improved, in either .png, .jpg or even .gif and its quality level in percent. Although it is an officially paid program, there are also options on the Internet to download it for free .
Gimp
It is a program very similar to Photoshop. Its only difference is that you can download it without problems from its website and completely free of charge . The sections that Gimp exhibits are exactly the same as those mentioned above for Photoshop . Then you simply have to follow the same steps to obtain your compressed image and with total quality; ready for your website.
RIOT: Radical Image Optimization
It is another graphic design program that can be used both independently and in the form of plugin for the Irfanview photo viewer and is also very simple, so it is recommended for beginners. With it, you can optimize the images you want very agile and quickly , in addition to resizing the illustration to reduce its weight. This software gives you the real-time knowledge of what your final size is going to be , around the resolution and compression factor you are using.
Compress JPEG
This graphic design software is responsible for reducing the weight of a photo in a very simple way , thus confirming the loading speed of your website or blog.
FastStone Photo Resizer
Refers to a program called “ FastStone ” that is dedicated to the creation of systems linked to illustrations. These have two photo views , a program to take screenshots and also FastStone Photo Resizer .
The latter is estimated as the best option to compress multiple images in a single moment , even hundreds or thousands of them. In short, it allows the personalization of any aspect when resizing , be it the proportion or resolution of the illustration, crop, rotate, rename files, add text or a watermark and change the depth of color bits.
ReducePhotos.com
It is a very practical and efficient online tool to resize multiple photos and reduce their size. It also offers the possibility to export in different ways, either JPG, PNG or even PDF . For its part, has a large number of additional alternatives , such as resizing, cropping, flipping, rotating, adding texts and drawing geometric figures in your illustrations.
Web Resizer
Also known as “ Web Resizer “; Provide complete image optimization assistance for your website or blog. When you use this online tool, in addition to compressing the photos to reduce the loading time of your website, you can also rotate the image , change the saturation , exposure or contrast and even add color borders , if you prefer. Web Photo Resizer is a very complete option for the compression of illustrations and the modification of their size with total quality.
Image Optimizer
It is an extremely easy to use online option. To reduce the weight of the images you require , you just have to upload the photo, then select the quality you want, a specific width and a maximum height. Then click on the button to optimize the image and finally download and save it to your computer.
Compressor.io
In addition to being a very simple tool to use, it integrates a lot of professionalism to change and edit the size of photographs and images. The best thing is that you can do it from their website without downloading or installing a program on your computer. Compressor.io is a very complete option, since it gives you the possibility to export files in up to four formats, either JPEG, PNG, GIF or SVG . Like two types of compression identified as “ Lossless ” and “ Lossy “.
As for the two types of understanding it offers, its only difference is that Lossless gives preference to improve and improve image quality , thus the final file It is larger. While Lossy and s able to reduce the magnitude up to 90% depending on the image quality decreases a bit.
TinyPNG
An online tool that gives you the excellent possibility of uploading up to 20 files at once from your website or blog, allowing a maximum of 5 MB each and with the particularity of compress your weight but not your dimensions .
Thus, TinyPNG may seem limited at first instance, but it is actually one of the most powerful that exist today. Since very selectively decreases the amount of colors in the photo without changing its dimensions with a type of compression called “ Lossy ” (which also uses Compressor.io). This option offers the possibility of downloading a totally free plugin in case you are a WordPress user , and another payment for the famous Photoshop.
PunnyPNG
Performs good image compression in JPG , PNG and GIF format, but shows some restrictions. PunnyPNG only allows compression on images of a maximum of 500 KB. Although it has a Pro version that improves and expands its functionalities.
CompressNow
Refers to an extremely simple , useful and practical use alternative. To perform image compression, you just have to upload your photo up to 9 MB in weight , then choose the percentage of compression level you require and click on the “ Compress . ” Thus generating a highly optimized image.
Convert Image
Excellent tool, you just have to load it in your free online application, then choose the compression percentage and that’s it. The disadvantage of Convert Image is that you cannot select the improved photo dimensions or format, since the only format that results is JPG .