How to reduce the size of a photo. How to reduce the weight of a photo. How to Reduce Photo Weight in Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Sometimes you need to reduce the size of photos on your computer in order to send them via e-mail friends or acquaintances. This is necessary, for example, when we take pictures with modern digital cameras, which produce very high-quality photos.

The size of photographs using such cameras is very large. And basically, such photographs are necessary for their further editing and high-quality printing.

But, if you need to send some photos by email just to view them on your computer, then there is no need to send large, heavy files. This is especially important to consider if one of the parties does not use fast and unlimited Internet.

Conditional situation

Let's say we have unlimited fast internet, and our friend, to whom we decided to send photographs, dear and Slow internet(for example, 2 rubles per 1 MB of information received).

In this case, when sending even 5 photos weighing 4 MB each. Sending a message with photos will not cause us any particular difficulties. But our friend will receive this message with photos for a very long time and will also pay his telecom operator about 40 rubles.

Therefore, it is better to simply view photos on your computer before sending them by email.

Reducing photo size using Paint

There are many ways to reduce the size of a photo. But in this article we will look at how to do this using Paint programs, which is already included in the operating room Windows system. I'll look at Paint in Windows 7 (in XP this program works on the same principle).

As an example, I took a photo from my camera with a resolution of 9 mega pixels, and I got a photo of 4.35 MB in size. I will reduce the size of this photo. To do this on this file I press right click mouse, and additional menu I choose: To open with -> Paint.

The selected file is opened by the Paint program, in which the original dimensions of the photo are visible:

To reduce the size of the photo, click on the button: Resize(as shown in the picture above) and in the drop-down menu select the change in percentage or pixels. I select in pixels, leave a checkmark: Maintain proportions and change the horizontal size to 1024 (or 1280) pixels. These dimensions are enough for the photo to be displayed well on any computer monitor:


To resize a photo in Windows XP, go to the menu Drawing-> Stretch and change the size as a percentage. Or in the menu Drawing-> Attributes and change the size in points, for example as in our case described in this note: 1024 horizontally and 768 vertically.

After resizing the photo, you must save it. To do this, we perform only 3 steps:

  1. In the menu at the top left corner, use the left mouse button to open the drop-down list for selecting functions;
  2. We move the cursor to: Save as;
  3. In the additional selection, click on: JPEG image(one of the most common formats):


Next, you need to choose a location where to save the changed photo. For example, my original photo (for this note) is on my Desktop. The file is called Photo. When saving, in order not to change the original file, I name the resized file differently (for example, Photo 2) and press Save:


Ready! Now, looking at the file properties, we see that using the standard Paint program, we reduced the original size of the photo by 10 times, despite the fact that when viewed on a computer, the difference in quality is not particularly noticeable:

Other Paint features

In Paint, you can not only resize images, but you can also draw, add text, shapes, etc. Experiment with your photos, and if you don’t like the result of any action, you can always cancel it using the undo last action button, which is located in the upper left part of the program window:

So When transferring photos over the Internet, I recommend that you always check the size of the transferred photo. By the way, this can be done by right-clicking on the photo and selecting from the menu that appears: Properties.

If the photo is too large, you can resize it, for example using the Paint program. To do this, open the file using this program, change the size in %, or horizontally by 1024 (less is possible) and save in JPEG format.

Often, the user may need to reduce graphic files, both their resolution and overall size. Such actions are most often required when posting photos on Internet resources or sending by mail...

How to reduce image size?

Let's look at a couple of the most primitive ways to reduce the weight of a photo or picture. The simplest way is to use the capabilities of the standard Windows OS graphic editor – Paint.

  1. Open the selected image using Paint
  2. Click the “Menu” item in the top bar and select “Save as...” from the context list.
  3. In the window that appears, change the file name so that the original image remains unchanged.
  4. Below you can change the format for the file, the best option will be JPEG
  5. Click save and you can compare the size of the original file and the one obtained by saving in Paint. It turned out that the compression is achieved at about 5 - 10%

Most likely, such a difference in size is due to a certain encoding of the file when saving. As I have seen in practice, such a solution does not always work, and the result is best visible in the original photographs. For example, you will not notice a difference when saving a small image up to 150 Kilobytes in size and with a resolution of no more than 800 x 600.

Compress photo size using Microsoft Picture Manager

The second method of reducing weight is more visual. In order to use it we need graphics editor– Microsoft Picture Manager. This program is supplied as part of, and is found in almost all versions of this product.

You can find the program by following the path: Start – Programs – Microsoft Office – Microsoft Tools office; or by right-clicking on the source image - select “Open with” and click the desired program.

  1. Open the photo in Microsoft program Picture Manager
  2. At the top of the main program window, find the “Change” button - click it.
  3. Afterwards you will have side panel configuration tools.
  4. Then find the last two items in the panel that appears, which are responsible for the image size.
  5. Depending on the photo change, select the item. If you need to reduce the resolution of a photo - “Resize”, if you want to reduce the weight of the file, then “compress pictures”.
  6. Let's use the first point and reduce the resolution of the photo. Find the Percentage of original width and height, highlight and set a value from 1 to 99 percent, values ​​above 100 will increase the resolution.
  7. I decided to reduce my photo exactly in half, which would be equal to 50% of the original resolution. Below you can see preliminary resolution calculations.
  8. In order to save desired result you need to click the “OK” button at the end of the sidebar.
  9. After changes, you should save the resulting photo separate file so as not to affect the original image. Click “File” at the top and select “Save As...” from the context.
  10. Change the file name or storage location!
  11. “Compressing pictures” is not anything complicated, let’s also open a photo or picture for editing, and go to the last item “Compressing pictures”.
  12. and select the required one from the proposed list of compression templates.
  13. I chose compression for "web pages"
  14. Just as with resizing, you can observe how the size of the image changes; in my case, it decreased by almost 11 times.


  15. In order to save the result, do not forget to click the “OK” button at the bottom of the sidebar.
  16. In order not to affect the original photo, follow steps 9 - 10 of these instructions.

Instead of an afterword

Simple steps for editing graphic files helped us make our image several times smaller. And the main thing is that we don’t need any special knowledge or programs to do it. Remember that most often after such changes the image loses its original quality.

The most recognizable “graphic” format that everyone works with successfully OS, devices and applications, is JPG. It compresses data well, so JPEG files usually have a small “weight” (MB or GB). But no matter how well the compression is performed, and with high image characteristics, the size of the digital object will be significant. And this makes it difficult to transfer the file, store it, and work with it. Problems are solved by reducing its size. Let's find out what needs to be done to reduce the size jpg file, and whether this operation will have consequences.

Ways to reduce JPG data size

Applicable to graphic objects the word “size” has two meanings - the dimensions of the image in pixels (width and height) and the volume in MB, GB. Hence, there are two ways to reduce the size of a graphic object:
Physical method
Reducing the size of the image itself. Let's say the user has an image with a pixel size of 1024x768. It's a big picture, but it can be physically "cut down" using services built into Windows 10 or third party programs. The method allows you to remove non-bearing important information pixels (usually the background), cutting out only the important area. The width and height of the image in pixels becomes smaller, for example, 650x370, but the quality is maintained.

File compression
A technically complex process of reducing the “weight” of a picture (MB or GB), in which there is a high probability of loss of image quality. The compression mechanism (quantization) works like this - it finds zones that are identical or similar in characteristics and replaces them with a kind of standard. For example, an image has 23 pixels of the same color. When compressed, they are replaced by one large “average” pixel. Because of this, blurred and unclear areas, transition effects and other defects appear in the photo.

If the image has a large number of similar pixels, then the frame compression process will be of high quality (that is, the “weight” of a 4 GB photo, for example, will be reduced to 1.3 GB). But at the same time, the quality of the picture itself will become very low. If there are few identical pixels, then the “weight” of the photo will not actually decrease, but the quality will not suffer.

Important! There are many software products available to edit file sizes. But most sites on the Internet encourage users to use Paint. The functionality of the built-in tool in Windows 10 is too small and ineffective to perform quality editing. Therefore, it is better not to use Paint. There are other ways.

Photoshop is the best tool for working with graphics

The software product is designed for experienced users, but such simple tasks how to reduce the size of a picture in JPG format Even a beginner can do it with its help. The program must be downloaded online and installed on a PC. The software installation is standard. After installation, it is better to restart your computer. Next, to compress the jpg size, you need to do this:
Then save the object. WITH using Photoshop You can also reduce the weight of the file. The procedure is also carried out
  1. in the “File” menu, select “Save for web”;
  2. in a new window, select 2 or 4 options in the horizontal panel;
  3. decide on the compression option based on image quality;
  4. select it by clicking the mouse;
  5. Click “Save”.
Important! Often it is necessary to reduce both the physical size and weight of an object. Then it is recommended to start with the second instructions for Photoshop. In the selection window best option At the bottom right there is a block for editing the width and height of the picture.

Compression using Caesium

A simpler, but less functional program is Caesium. It is installed on a PC as standard and has a very friendly interface. To edit an object, launch the software product and perform the following actions:

Download installation file from the official website:

This program preserves the image proportions, so there is no need to do additional editing operations.

File Optimizer - compress multiple photos at once

This is also an installation file. You will have to download and install it on your PC. Installation is standard. A program with the simplest functionality, but an English-language interface. Use it like this:

The utility is convenient because it allows you to simultaneously optimize the sizes of several files at once. The more of them are included in the process, the longer it lasts.

Convenient online services

On the Internet you can find many resources that compress photos and images in JPEG format online. But not everyone should be trusted, since only a few perform this procedure really well (while maintaining the clarity of the drawing). Among them:
The first resource in the list will be the most advanced and convenient for novice editors. It has an English-language interface, but is intuitive work panel, so there won’t be any difficulties. All you need to do is click on the download icon next to Panda and wait for the compression. On this resource, the procedure is performed while maintaining image quality.


Which method should you choose? It all depends on further actions and frequency of this operation. If compression is carried out frequently, then it makes sense to install a powerful program with extensive functionality for editing images. Otherwise, you will load the OS with unnecessary software products, which will eventually take up all the free space hard space disk, not worth it.

The weight of an image refers to its volume in megabytes. Modern cameras take pictures with heavy weight, which allows you to see the smallest details, however, problems may arise when uploading photos to the Internet, since many portals accept images with a limited weight. Photos are used to reduce weight special programs.

Reduce photo weight using Paint

Paint- one of the standard Windows programs, so you don’t even have to download anything here. It makes it very easy to reduce the weight of a photo:

  1. Open the photo via Paint;
  2. Select the “Stretch/Tilt” tool, located in the “Drawing” tab;
  3. In the “Horizontal” column, you need to change the value downward, and vertically put a value similar to the first;
  4. Click on OK and save the file.

Reduce photo weight using Picture Manager

Picture Manager - universal program to compress and resize photos

Picture Manager is included in Microsoft package Office. With its help, you can reduce the weight of both one image and a group of images:

  1. Path to Picture Manager: All Programs – Microsoft Office Tools – Picture Manager;
  2. Open the program. In the upper left corner, look for “Add a picture shortcut”, then find the image you want to reduce and click “Add”;
  3. Select the “Compress Drawings” option in the “Drawing” tab;
  4. In the column that appears, look for the “Compress for” field, select right size. The bottom column “Expected total size” will show the weight of the photo for certain parameters;
  5. Click OK and save the file.

This program allows you to reduce the weight of several photos. To do this, you need to select all the necessary images at the very beginning, further actions similar to the above instructions. Finally, click OK and “Save all.”

Reducing the weight of a photo using the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor

Adobe Photoshop- a multifunctional graphic editor, also capable of saving photos in a compressed format

Graphic Adobe editor Photoshop allows you to reduce the weight of a photo without significant loss of image quality. It's easy to use:

  1. Open the photo in Photoshop. You can do this by right-clicking on the image and selecting “Open with” – “Adobe Photoshop” in the menu that appears. You can open a photo directly from the program. You need to select “Open” in the “File” tab in the top menu of Photoshop. In the window that appears, select the photo whose weight you want to reduce;
  2. In the top menu of Photoshop, select “Image Size” in the “Image” tab;
  3. In the window that opens, select the desired values ​​of centimeters, pixels and width of the photo; at the very bottom of the window, check the “Maintain proportions” item. This measure allows you to automatically adjust one indicator when changing the second;
  4. Next, select “Save for Web and Devices...” in the “File” tab and save the image in JPEG format. This format allows you to maintain the quality of the photo;
  5. After selecting the format, select the quality of the saved image. Click “Save”.

Reducing the weight of a photo using GIMP

  1. Open the program. In it, open the image whose weight needs to be reduced;
  2. Select “Image Size” in the “Image” tab and specify new parameters. To preserve quality, it is recommended to set the width and length of the photo, which would be divisible by eight (multiple of eight);
  3. The chain icon must be closed. This measure allows you to maintain harmonious proportions of the image;
  4. Save the edited image.

Reducing the weight of a photo while saving it

To reduce the weight of an image, it is enough to save it again and change some parameters:

  1. Select “Export” in the “File” tab;
  2. Select the folder in which you plan to save the image, in the “Name” field enter the name of the file with a note.jpg at the end, click “Save”;
  3. A window for saving JPEG files should appear in front of you, click on “ Extra options"and edit them. It is better to set the image quality within the range from 85 to 100; the “Optimize” item allows you to reduce the weight. The “Use quality characteristics of the original image” option can be disabled; the “Smoothing” function helps reduce weight, but the image becomes slightly blurry. "Image comment" can also be removed;
  4. Save the edited photo.

To reduce the weight of a photo, you don’t even have to download anything on the Internet, because this function also available in standard programs. However, special programs will be needed if for you important factor is to maintain excellent image quality.

You will learn how to photograph insects.