Compress JPEG for the web
Hero photos rarely need maximum camera quality on the wire. Compress and preview locally until detail holds and the byte budget fits.
Practical size targets
Working targets many teams use: under ~200 KB for heroes, under ~100 KB for in-article photos, and tens of KB for thumbnails. Your design may differ; measure Largest Contentful Paint after you ship.
Steps
- Load the JPEG in Image Compressor.
- Start at quality 75–80. Zoom into fine detail and gradients.
- If artifacts are invisible, try 70. Above 90, size climbs steeply for little gain.
- Resize very large camera files to 1920–2560px on the long edge when the layout never shows more.
When to choose another format
Screenshots and text-heavy graphics often stay clearer as PNG — see compress PNG for email. Modern browsers benefit from WebP when you control the <picture> stack.