A few months ago I kept running into the same frustrating problem:
Upload portals rejecting my images because the file size was just slightly over the limit.
Especially on: It was frustrating re-compressing the same image over and over just to reduce a few extra KB.
- Government forms
- Exam portals
- Visa applications
- Job applications
Most image compressors either:
- Reduced quality too aggressively
- Failed to hit the required KB size
- Uploaded files to external servers
- Or required too many manual adjustments
So I ended up building a browser-based image compression tool focused on one specific thing:
Compressing images to an exact KB target while keeping the quality as usable as possible.
A few things I focused on while building it:
- Browser-based processing
- No signup
- Adjustable KB targeting
- Support for JPG, PNG, and WebP
- Keeping the workflow simple
One thing I didn’t expect during development was how difficult ultra-low KB targets become.
For example:
- Compressing a 2MB image to 500KB is easy
- Compressing that same image to 20KB without destroying it is much harder
I also realized metadata removal can make a surprisingly big difference for photos taken on modern phones.
The project is still improving, but it has already become one of the tools I personally use most often.
I’m still improving it, but it has already become genuinely useful for handling strict upload limits:
Top comments (1)
One thing I underestimated while building this was how difficult ultra-low targets become.
Compressing a 2MB image to 500KB is easy.
Compressing that same image to ~20KB while keeping it usable is much harder than I expected 😅