Compress files to 2MB, 1MB or even smaller
Drop a photo or PDF below, keep the 1MB target or set your own, and click Compress. It's free, needs no account, and your file never leaves your browser.
Got a ZIP? Drop it below and we'll shrink the images and PDFs inside to 1MB.
Drop files here or browse
Supports JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, PDF, ZIP - up to 20 files, 50 MB each
Compress by
Each file is compressed to fit under this size. Popular targets: 5 MB, 2 MB, 1 MB.
Why use 1MB Compress?
100% Private
Files are processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is ever uploaded to a server.
Instant Results
Compression happens locally at full CPU speed. No waiting for uploads or server queues.
Always Free
No sign-up, no limits, no credit card. Compress as many files as you need.
Smart Compression
Automatically selects the best algorithm for images and PDFs, whether your target is 5MB, 2MB, 1MB, or even smaller.
Merge PDFs
Combine multiple PDFs locally, then compress the merged file if you need a smaller download.
Video Compression
Compress MP4, WebM, and MOV videos to 5MB, 2MB, 1MB, or even smaller. Uses FFmpeg WebAssembly for fast, private processing.
GIF Optimizer
Reduce animated GIF file sizes by optimizing colors, frame rate, and resolution, all in your browser.
PDF Password Protection
Add password protection to your PDFs or unlock password-protected PDFs. All processing happens locally in your browser.
Zip & Extract Files
Create ZIP, TAR, and TAR.GZ archives or extract ZIP, RAR, 7Z, and TAR files. All processing happens in your browser. No uploads required.
How it works
Choose a tool
Compress images, videos, GIFs, or PDFs, or merge multiple PDFs into one browser-based workflow.
Process locally
Drag in your files, adjust quality if needed, and let your browser handle the work privately.
Download
Grab the merged or compressed result directly to your device with no upload step.
Compress images, videos, GIFs, and PDFs, all privately in your browser
1MB Compress is a free online tool that helps you reduce the file size of images, videos, animated GIFs, and PDF documents to 1 megabyte or less, and merge multiple PDFs into a single file. Whether you need to compress a JPEG photo for an email attachment, shrink an MP4 video for sharing, optimize an animated GIF for Discord, reduce a multi-page PDF for a web form upload, or combine several PDFs before sharing them, 1MB Compress handles it all directly in your web browser.
Unlike other file compressors, your files never leave your device. All compression happens locally using the latest browser APIs and WebAssembly. No file uploads, no server processing, no privacy concerns. Your documents stay yours.
For images, we use smart quality reduction combined with optional resolution scaling to hit the 1MB target while preserving as much visual quality as possible. For videos, we use FFmpeg WebAssembly to re-encode at the optimal bitrate for your target size. For GIFs, we reduce the color palette, frame rate, and resolution. For PDFs, we first attempt a lossless optimization by stripping metadata and compressing the internal structure. If the file is still too large, we rasterize each page at high resolution and reassemble the PDF.
Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP for images, MP4, WebM, MOV, AVI for videos, GIF for animations, and PDF for documents. Batch compression lets you process up to 20 files at once, and the PDF merge tool lets you combine files in your chosen order before optionally compressing the result.
Every format uses a different engine because every format has a different structure to exploit. Images use the browser's own Canvas API, which can re-encode JPEG and WebP at any quality level directly in memory — no external library needed. PDFs use pdf-lib, a JavaScript library that reads and rewrites a PDF's internal object structure without rendering it, which is why text stays selectable when lossless optimization alone is enough. Video and GIF use ffmpeg.wasm, a WebAssembly build of the real FFmpeg encoder, running inside a Web Worker so a multi-hundred-megabyte video can be transcoded without freezing the page. Archives use libarchive, also compiled to WebAssembly, to unpack and repack ZIP, TAR, RAR, and 7Z containers. None of these engines have a network call in their code path — there is nowhere for your file to go even if something tried to send it.
Learn more
From the blog
Why are my photos so large?
What actually makes a modern photo 5-15MB, and why that matters for uploads.
Which tool do you need?
| If you need to... | Use |
|---|---|
| A photo or screenshot is too big for an upload form or email | Compress Image |
| You need an image at an exact size, like 100KB or 500KB | Compress Image to Size |
| A photo needs specific pixel dimensions, not just a smaller file | Resize Image |
| A PDF report, scan, or contract is too large to send | Compress PDF |
| You have several PDFs that need to become one file | Merge PDF |
| A video clip needs to fit an upload or attachment limit | Compress Video |
| An animated GIF is too big to share or upload | Compress GIF |
| A folder of files needs to become one smaller archive | Compress ZIP |
| A podcast, voice memo, or music file needs to be smaller | Compress Audio |
| You're specifically targeting Discord's 10MB or Gmail's 25MB cap | Compress for Discord / Gmail |
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress a file to under 1MB?
Drop it into the compressor at the top of this page, keep the target at 1MB, and click Compress. 1MB Compress lowers image quality and dimensions step by step, optimizes PDFs (turning pages into images only if nothing else gets them small enough), and recompresses the photos and PDFs inside a ZIP, then gives you a download. It's free, needs no account, and runs entirely in your browser, so the file is never uploaded. If a file can't get that small and stay usable, you get the smallest version it can make. Files already under 1MB are left as they are.
Do I need to create an account or install anything?
No. There's no sign-up, no app to install, and no browser extension required. Every tool on this page runs as soon as the page loads — open it, drop a file, and it works.
Which file types can I compress here?
Images (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP), PDFs, video (MP4, WebM, MOV, AVI), animated GIFs, audio (MP3, WAV, OGG, AAC, FLAC), and archives (ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ, RAR, 7Z). HEIC/HEIF isn't accepted directly — convert to JPEG first, since most browsers can't decode HEIC either. Each supported type has a dedicated tool, linked in the table above and in the footer.
Is this actually private, or does 'never leaves your device' just mean you delete files after processing?
It means the file's bytes never travel over the network at all — there's no delete-after-processing policy to trust, because there was never an upload for it to describe. Compression runs through browser APIs (Canvas, pdf-lib, ffmpeg.wasm, libarchive-wasm depending on the tool) entirely in your device's memory. You can verify this yourself: open your browser's Network tab before compressing, or run a tool once, then disconnect from the internet and run it again on another file. It still works, because nothing after that point needs the network.
Why is this free, and what's the catch?
The site is funded by display ads. There's no premium tier, no file-count limit, and no email capture to unlock a download. See the About page for the full explanation of how the site is built and funded.
Is there a limit on file size or how many files I can process?
Most tools accept batches of up to 20 files and individual files up to 50MB (higher for audio, up to 500MB). There's no daily or monthly cap — compress as many files as you need, whenever you need to.