Little Toolworks

Compress an Image to 500 KB

Half a megabyte is a generous ceiling: enough for a detailed photo or a screenshot with text. The browser re-encodes to fit, and nothing is uploaded.

Drop an image here, or click to choose

JPEG, PNG, WebP or BMP up to 20 MB on Free · one at a time · nothing leaves your device

Free plan

How it works

  1. Your browser reads the image from your disk. No upload, no third-party service.
  2. It keeps the largest dimensions and quality that fit under 500 KB. The first setting that fits wins, so the output stays as detailed as the limit allows.
  3. If 500 KB is out of reach, it says so and reports the smallest result and its dimensions.

What 500 KB is good for

Photos stay sharp. At 500 KB a normal phone photo can often keep close to its original pixel count at a high JPEG quality. It is a good target for email attachments, portfolio images and forms with a half-megabyte cap.

Screenshots are a different case. Text and flat interface colours compress well in PNG, and a screenshot may fit under 500 KB as PNG while staying perfectly crisp. If it is a photograph inside a screenshot, JPEG will usually be smaller.

A file already under 500 KB does not need this. The tool never returns a larger file: if re-encoding cannot beat the original, it leaves the original alone.

Metadata is dropped. EXIF, GPS coordinates and camera details are not copied, because the output is rebuilt from the decoded pixels. That is usually what you want before posting a photo publicly.

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Targets of 2 MB, 1 MB, 500 KB, 200 KB, 100 KB and 50 KB
  • Images up to 20 MB
  • One image at a time
  • JPEG or PNG output, no upload, no watermark

Pro

$5/month

  • Adds 30 KB, 20 KB and 10 KB targets, plus a custom KB target
  • Images up to 100 MB
  • Batch: compress up to 20 images at once
  • One subscription unlocks Pro in every Little Toolworks tool

Billed by Creem. Cancel any time with Manage or cancel subscription. Access is activated automatically after payment.

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Already paid in another browser? Paste the key Creem emailed you. Restoring checks that your subscription is still active.

Questions

Is 500 KB high quality?

For most photos, yes. It leaves enough budget for a high JPEG quality setting or close to the original dimensions. The result card shows what the tool chose.

What about transparent PNGs?

Choose PNG output to keep transparency. A cut-out with large transparent areas often fits under 500 KB; a full photographic scene as PNG probably will not.

Why is my screenshot smaller as PNG?

PNG compresses flat colours and sharp text efficiently, and it keeps them crisp. JPEG is better for photographic detail. Try Auto and compare the result card.

Does it work for HEIC photos?

It depends on the browser. Safari can usually decode HEIC; Chrome and Edge on Windows may not. Export the photo as JPEG first if decoding fails.

Can I compress several images at once?

Free handles one image at a time. Pro adds batch compression for up to 20 images and raises the input cap from 20 MB to 100 MB.

Is the picture uploaded?

No. The file is read and re-encoded in this tab.