Compress an image to 10 MB
The ten-megabyte ceiling is preset: the page searches the JPG encoder from full quality down until the file lands under 10,485,760 bytes, keeping the sharpest setting that clears it — and reporting the exact byte count on every card.
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The print shop's portal took the mockup but refused the production artwork: files up to 10 MB. That figure guards a different band than the five-megabyte e-mail gate — it is the ceiling that large uploads settle at when the pipeline is modern enough to carry real photography but still wants a number to print on the error page. A mirrorless frame at Fine sits at eight to fourteen megabytes, a 48 MP phone frame at five to twelve, and a scanned poster at 300 DPI lands in the same neighborhood. The photo is usually fine; the envelope is not.
This is the top rung of the preset family. The target of 10,485,760 bytes is already set, JPG is preselected because print-ready and e-mail-ready files both want the commonest format, and nothing else asks for input: the engine encodes from the highest quality, measures the result, steps down and measures again until the number clears the line. Width trimming only happens if the very softest quality still overshoots — with a 24 MP frame at that target, that is the normal case.
Every card prints the start weight, the finish weight, the percentage recovered, the final pixel size and the target-met tag. A batch of full-resolution catalog frames goes through the same search one by one and comes back as a single .zip, in the order you added the files.
How it works
The target is fixed and the format bar is already on JPG; the job is choosing which originals to feed it.
Drop in the full-size frames
Add the production files, not preview copies — JPG, PNG, WebP or iPhone HEIC, one image or a whole shoot. The search is best on files that are actually over the line: a 6 MB frame clears 10 MB with the pixels untouched at a quality so high the change is invisible, and that is the whole point of the higher rung.
Leave the panel where it opens
The settings show the ten-megabyte target locked in and JPG on the format bar. PNG has no quality dial, so a PNG source reaches the line only by shrinking its dimensions; switch formats only if the receiving system names one. The width field is off the page, because a width-limited frame is a different job — run it on Resize image first and return with the trimmed file.
Generate, check the tag, ship it
Press Generate images and read the card: original size, new size, percentage saved, the output width × height and the target-met tag, or smallest possible when the source was already heavy enough that even the softest quality plus ten downscale steps could not get there. Download each file or the whole set as one .zip.
Who puts a 10 MB limit in front of you
The ceiling arrives in three flavors, and they want different things from the same file:
- Print-on-demand and bulk printers: 10 MB per artwork, because the order travels over e-mail to a fulfillment system that has a per-item quota
- Corporate e-mail relays: many gateways allow a 20 MB total and still block single items above 10, so a 12 MB attachment dies before it reaches the recipient
- Government and licensing portals: 10 MB is the middle rung of the ladder, sitting between the 2 MB form fields and the 25 MB drawing uploads
- Gallery and contest submissions: one file per entry, 10 MB, usually JPG or PDF named in the rules
Ten megabytes buys a lot of pixels
At this rung, quality — not resolution — is the usual thing that gives. The search runs from the encoder's top down and stops at the first quality whose output weighs under 10,485,760 bytes; for a normal 12 to 24 MP frame that stop point is high enough that a side-by-side view cannot find the difference. Width steps in only when the file is a 48 MP frame, a fine-mode RAW-turned-JPG from a full-frame camera, or a large-format scan — sources where even quality 5 overshoots the line.
| Source | Starting weight | Typical arrival under 10 MB |
|---|---|---|
| Phone, 12 MP, 2–4 MB | already under | passes at full quality — the card says target met with the highest setting |
| Phone, 48 MP, 5–12 MB | on the line | quality about 55–75, pixels untouched |
| Full-frame camera, 24 MP Fine, 8–14 MB | over | quality about 40–65, pixels untouched |
| Poster scan, 300 DPI, 15–40 MB | well over | several 15% width steps down — or run Max width first on Resize image |
10 MB versus 5 MB: which page actually serves you
The rule is not to aim at the lower limit. Landing under the real ceiling at the highest quality your file can sustain beats landing under a comfortable lower ceiling at a quality you notice. If the form you are filling says 10 MB, this page spends the whole ten: a 24 MP frame keeps a quality that the five-megabyte search would have had to drop into the 30s. If it says 5 MB, the five-megabyte page does — and the difference in a zoomed-in print is visible in hair, fabric and brickwork.
When the file is already under 10 MB
The search still runs, and the card will show the highest quality fitting the ceiling — which on an 8 MB source is full quality and a few percent of saved weight. That is a legitimate result, but if you are looking for a visible size cut, you are on the wrong rung: pick the ceiling that matches the form, or the general compressor with a quality you can see.
Frequently asked questions
My photo is already 7 MB. Is it worth running through this page?
Only if some system is going to reject it at 7 MB. Under a 10 MB ceiling the file clears the line and the search hands it back at full quality — the card will show target met with nothing lost. The page earns its keep on 11 to 40 MB sources, where the quality it spends is still usually invisible.
Why did my 24 MP camera file end up at 6 MB, not 9.9 MB?
The search stops at the highest quality that fits, not at the largest file under the ceiling — but on a 24 MP source at this rung that stop point should sit well above 6 MB. If it landed there with the card saying smallest possible, the file was a fine-mode RAW conversion or a large scan, and the width ladder ran. Crop the frame or cap the width on Resize image first, then regenerate; fewer pixels means the quality search buys you back the sharpness.
The print shop says 10 MB and the file they got from my designer was 14 MB. Should I ask for the original?
Yes, if the rejection is size-only. Re-compressing a 14 MB file that already passed through a designer's save pipeline costs more quality than compressing the clean original: this page's search protects quality, and quality that is already gone will not come back.
Can I take a 48 MP phone frame to 10 MB without it looking soft?
At this ceiling, usually yes — the 48 MP frame fits under 10 MB around quality 55 to 75 with all 48 megapixels in the file, which is more detail than 99 percent of the portals that ask for 10 MB can display. Check the Compare slider against the original before you ship it; softness at this target comes almost always from shrinking that already-traveled through a chat app.
Does it handle HEIC straight from an iPhone?
Yes. The decoder (around 1 MB) downloads once and caches, the photo decodes on your device, the search runs on the decoded frame and the output is a standard SDR JPG — the HDR gain map does not survive the re-encode, and no receiving system at a 10 MB print shop reads it anyway.
What happens to a file that cannot get under 10 MB, even shrunk?
The ladder is quality first (down to the encoder's floor), then width in 15 percent steps at a fixed quality, up to ten steps. If a 10,000 px scan still overshoots there, the card reads smallest possible and shows the byte count — at that point the fix is cropping on Crop image before you come back, not another pass of this tool.