Written by
Anna Yuan
How to Reduce JPEG File Size on Mac or MacBook?
Summary: This post tells how to compress JPEG images on Mac in 4 ways, including using iBoysoft MagicMenu, macOS Preview, macOS Photos, and an online image compressor.
As is known to all, JPEG is a widely-used image format in smartphones and cameras. However, have you noticed that JPEG file sizes get bigger and bigger due to the capability of producing high-quality photography on smartphones and cameras?
If you've moved many JPEG images from your phone/camera to your Mac, you'll find your Mac lacks space soon. In this situation, what can you do to reduce the JPEG file size on Mac? Luckily, this post will walk you through how to compress JPEG images on a Mac in 4 ways, just keep reading.
| JPEG compressor | Specific operations |
| iBoysoft MagicMenu | Right-click on a JPEG file, and select Compress > Save. |
| macOS Preview | Open JPEG in Preview, select Tools > Adjust Size > Resample Image option > OK. |
| macOS Photos | Open JPEG in Photos, choose File > Export > Export 1 Photo. Set the compression level and click Export. |
| CompressJPEG | Open CompressJPEG, upload a JPEG file and then click Download All. |
How to compress a JPEG on Mac using right-click
If you're on a Windows computer, the simplest way to compress a JPEG is to use the "Compress" function in right-click menu. However, when you right-click on a JPEG picture on Mac, you can not find a "Compress" option from Finder's context menu. Then, you may wonder what you can do to compress a JPEG on Mac using right-click.
Don't worry! Actually, there is a neat macOS right-click enhancer named iBoysoft MagicMenu that is able to provide a few right-click options on Mac including Compress, Create a new file, ImageConvert, etc.
This utility is capable of compressing photos on Mac in a simple way as well as compressing videos on Mac. It supports compressing various image formats, including jpeg, PNG, tiff, gif, etc. Besides, it can help you find duplicate photos on your Mac or MacBook so that you can free up Mac storage space by deleting duplicate images.
To compress a JPEG on Mac using right-click with the help of iBoysoft MagicMenu, simply do the following:
- Free download, install and launch iBoysoft MagicMenu.
- Go to Mac Finder, and open the file folder which contains the photos or pictures you want to compress.
- Right-click on the picture and choose Compress from the context menu.
- Then, a new window will pop up. You can click "Add files" to select more JPEG pictures to be bulk compressed if needed. Also, you can choose its compression level from 3 options: High, Middle, and Low.
- Click Compress. Rename the compressed file and select where to keep it, and click Save. You can see a new zip file appear in the folder you've chosen, this is the compression file of your JPEG image. This zip file should be smaller than the original.
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How to compress JPEG images with the macOS Preview app
Preview is a macOS built-in photo editor. Luckily, there's a feature in this application to allow you to compress your JPEG images. Just follow these steps to see how to reduce image file size on Mac using Preview:
- Click Launchpad and open the Preview app.
- Choose File > Open and select the JPEG photos you want to compress.
- Click Tools > Adjust Size.
- Adjust the Width and/or Height by pixel. You'll see an estimate of the new size in the Resulting Size section.
- Check the Resample Image option and click OK.
Note: If you want to compress multiple JPEG pictures at the same time. Before step 3, make sure you click on one of the thumbnails in the sidebar and then press Command + A on your keyboard to select all. Then, when you make your size adjustment, Preview will apply it to all of the images.
How to reduce JPEG file size using the Photos app
In addition to compressing JPEG images with the macOS Preview app, you can also utilize the macOS Photos app to quickly reduce JPEG file size on Mac or MacBook. Here's how to do it:
- Right-click on a JPEG picture you want to compress in macOS Finder and choose to open it with the Photos app.
- Click File > Export > Export 1 Photo from the top menu bar. Alternatively, you can press Command + Shift + E.
- Click the tiny arrow next to Photo Kind to see more options.
- Accordingly, set the Photo Kind, Quality, and Size to compress the images.
- Click Export > choose a location > Export.
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How to compress JPEG photos on Mac online
If you don't want to use apps to compress a JPEG image on Mac or you can't compress files or folders on your Mac with the above-mentioned tools. You can try an online image compressor. As long as your Mac or MacBook is connected to the internet or Wi-Fi, you can use this way to reduce JPEG file size on your Mac for free.
CompressJPEG is a totally free online image compressor, which can allow you to compress up to 20 JPEG or JPEG files at one time. To compress a JPEG on Mac using CompressJPEG, do the following:
- Open Compress JPEG in your Mac browser, and click Upload Files.
- Select the JPEG files you need to compress and click Open.
- Wait for the JPEG file to finish uploading and click Download All. A new zip file should be saved to your Mac Download folder, which is the compressed JPEG file.
JPEG vs JPG: which is bigger in size
Sometimes, you may wonder the difference between JPEG and JPG. Are they the same? Which one is bigger in size?
JPEG, which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, is a widely used format for storing and sharing digital images. Meanwhile, JPG is a shortened version of JPEG. The reason why JPG exists is that earlier versions of Windows operating systems (MS-DOS 8.3 and FAT-16) don't support extensions with more than 3 letters.
So .jpeg was shortened to .jpg. While Windows and/or DOS had this limitation, UNIX did not, so the UNIX and Mac users continued using the .jpeg extension. Therefore, JPEG and JPG are almost the same file formats with the only difference being the number of characters used in the file extension.
This means converting JPEG to JPG on Mac won't affect the image file size. To reduce a JPEG file size on Mac, it's better to compress it using the above methods. Among all the ways to compress a JPEG photo on Mac is to use right-click by iBoysoft MagicMenu. Free download it and try it now.
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FAQs about how to compress a JPEG on Mac
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To reduce the file size of a JPEG photo on Mac, the best way is to compress it using iBoysoft MagicMenu, macOS Preview, macOS Photos and online image compressor.
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It is safe to upload and compress JPEG files on Mac using a professional online tool. Any online image compressor has no ability to delete your JPEG files from your system and a professional online JPEG image compressor should never keep or use your uploaded image files for commercial. If you're quite concerned about the safety of using an online image compressor, try macOS built-in image compress tool, instead.
