How to Compress Images for Email

Updated June 2026 · 3 min read

You attach photos to an email and hit send. Minutes later: "Message not delivered. Attachment exceeds size limit." Gmail's limit is 25 MB. Outlook's is 20 MB. A few high-res photos can blow past that instantly. Here's how to fix it.

Quick fix: Use our free image compressor, select JPG output at 80% quality, and watch multi-megabyte photos shrink to a few hundred KB — well within any email limit.

Email Attachment Size Limits

Gmail: 25 MB per email
Outlook / Hotmail: 20 MB
Yahoo Mail: 25 MB
Apple iCloud Mail: 20 MB

Step-by-Step: Compress Images for Email

Go to compress2png.com
Drag your photos in — JPG output is selected by default
Set quality to 80% — visually identical, dramatically smaller
Click Compress — all processing happens in your browser
Download and attach to your email

Pro Tip: Resize First

Most email clients display images at 600-800 pixels wide. A 4000px photo is overkill. Resize to 1200px wide before compressing — you'll cut file size by 70-90% before compression even starts.