JPEG compression — Delivery workflow

Worked example

To deliver compressed JPEGs, set a byte budget per destination, keep originals untouched and name the outputs clearly.

An estate agent might work to a rule of thumb such as under 2 MB for a listing form and under 500 KB for an email to the owner. Write those two figures in a short note, run the photo once at 78, and use the result if it is under budget. If not, step the slider down by about 5 and repeat, instead of jumping to 40.

The download is named after the source plus compress, for example hallway-compress.jpg, which keeps the compressed copy distinct from the camera file in the same folder. Keep the camera originals in a folder of their own and never overwrite them, because a JPEG that has been compressed once cannot be restored to its earlier detail.

For a set of rooms, load the photos together and process them one at a time. The queue takes up to 12 images and 48 MB of input, and when you finish you can save the completed results as a ZIP with numbered file names. Completed outputs are kept up to 64 MB, so very large batches should be split into groups.

Before sending, spot-check one bright, one dark and one text-heavy image at 100 percent, open the files in the destination form to confirm they upload, and record the quality value you used. That makes the next batch repeatable, and a colleague can reproduce the same settings without asking you.

JPEG photograph; original retained

JPEG export; compare bytes and edges

Compression happens in your browser; the photos are not uploaded, and unsaved results are lost when the tab closes.