One of the most time consuming aspects of photography is managing your photo files, particularly their file size. Whilst modern smartphones are capable of taking incredibly detailed photographs, and DSLRs even more so, this most often comes at the cost of a larger file size.
The larger your photo files, the longer it takes to edit and upload them.
Unfortunately Windows doesn’t contain an Image Compressor app out-of-the-box, but Microsoft can be generous from time-to-time, with the Microsoft PowerToys toolset offering a very simple and easy compressor called Image Resizer.
And it’s 100% free.
If you haven’t heard of PowerToy or already installed it, we have a guide linked below:
Microsoft PowerToys
Don't let the odd name fool you, Microsoft PowerToys is a suite of very useful add-on tools for Windows that can be integrated directly into your right-click menu. In this guide we'll cover how to install Microsoft PowerToys and provide a few links to the guides that cover using several of the PowerToys tools such as: Image Resizer PowerRename One of the best aspects of PowerToys is that these tools are 100% free and hosted
Using PowerToys’ Image Resizer Tool
Step 1: Open File Explorer and select your Photos
Open the folder containing your photos, and use the following shortcuts to select your photos:
Compressing in batches
Left-click your first photo, then hold SHIFT and left-click another file, this will select every file in between those two photos:
Alternatively, hold CTRL and left-click each photo to select them one-by-one.
Compressing all photos in a folder
Left-click your first photo, then hold the CTRL key and press A, this will select all photos within that folder.
Step 2: Right-click and open your selected files in Image Resizer
Once you’ve selected your photos, right-click on any of the selected photos:
Once the right-click menu opens, look towards the bottom of the menu. 3rd option from the bottom, left-click on the Resize with Image Resizer option:
Step 3: Select a Resize Profile and click Resize
After clicking Resize with Image Resizer, a small window will appear at the centre of your screen. First, click the dropdown at the top of the window labelled Small. This sets the size your Photos will be compressed to, we recommend selecting Large:
Beneath the dropdown you’ll find 4 checkboxes, we recommend the following:
Make pictures smaller but not larger – Leave Unticked
Ignore orientation of pictures – Leave Ticked
Overwrite files – Leave Unticked – Ticking this option will apply compression to the original photos, do not use this option if you do not have a backup of your photos.
Remove metadata that doesn’t affect rendering – Leave Unticked
Click the Resize button at the bottom of the window to start compressing your photos:
Depending on the number of photos selected and the hardware of your PC, this may take a few minutes.
Filtering File Explorer
Once Image Resizer is done, your new, compressed photos will appear in the same folder as the originals. They’ll retain their original File Name but with (Large) added at the end. To make it easier for you to select and move your compressed photos elsewhere, we’ll break down File Explorer’s filters.
Step 1: Using the Sort filters in File Explorer
At the top of File Explorer, towards the centre of the window, you’ll find an option labelled Sort. Left-click Sort and a dropdown will appear:
Inside the Sort dropdown, float your cursor over the More option (4th from the top), then left-click Date created:
Your File Explorer window will now be filtered to show your newly-created compressed Photos first:
Step 2 (Optional): Using the Sort and Group By
If you’d like to further segment your File Explorer, we recommend using the Group By filter as well. To do this, left-click Sort again, float your cursor over Group By (the last option on the list) and then left-click Date created:
Your File Explorer will now separate your files into distinct sections, such as Today, Yesterday, Last Week and Last Month:
We recommend moving your compressed photos to a new folder, typically your photos will now be 4-8x smaller than before, and upload much faster with barely any loss in visual quality.
Compressing Photos with Image Resizer (Windows)
One of the most time consuming aspects of photography is managing your photo files, particularly their file size. Whilst modern smartphones are capable of taking incredibly detailed photographs, and DSLRs even more so, this most often comes at the cost of a larger file size.
The larger your photo files, the longer it takes to edit and upload them.
Unfortunately Windows doesn’t contain an Image Compressor app out-of-the-box, but Microsoft can be generous from time-to-time, with the Microsoft PowerToys toolset offering a very simple and easy compressor called Image Resizer.
And it’s 100% free.
If you haven’t heard of PowerToy or already installed it, we have a guide linked below:
Using PowerToys’ Image Resizer Tool
Step 1: Open File Explorer and select your Photos
Open the folder containing your photos, and use the following shortcuts to select your photos:
Compressing in batches
Left-click your first photo, then hold SHIFT and left-click another file, this will select every file in between those two photos:
Alternatively, hold CTRL and left-click each photo to select them one-by-one.
Compressing all photos in a folder
Left-click your first photo, then hold the CTRL key and press A, this will select all photos within that folder.
Step 2: Right-click and open your selected files in Image Resizer
Once you’ve selected your photos, right-click on any of the selected photos:
Once the right-click menu opens, look towards the bottom of the menu. 3rd option from the bottom, left-click on the Resize with Image Resizer option:
Step 3: Select a Resize Profile and click Resize
After clicking Resize with Image Resizer, a small window will appear at the centre of your screen. First, click the dropdown at the top of the window labelled Small. This sets the size your Photos will be compressed to, we recommend selecting Large:
Beneath the dropdown you’ll find 4 checkboxes, we recommend the following:
Click the Resize button at the bottom of the window to start compressing your photos:
Depending on the number of photos selected and the hardware of your PC, this may take a few minutes.
Filtering File Explorer
Once Image Resizer is done, your new, compressed photos will appear in the same folder as the originals. They’ll retain their original File Name but with (Large) added at the end. To make it easier for you to select and move your compressed photos elsewhere, we’ll break down File Explorer’s filters.
Step 1: Using the Sort filters in File Explorer
At the top of File Explorer, towards the centre of the window, you’ll find an option labelled Sort. Left-click Sort and a dropdown will appear:
Inside the Sort dropdown, float your cursor over the More option (4th from the top), then left-click Date created:
Your File Explorer window will now be filtered to show your newly-created compressed Photos first:
Step 2 (Optional): Using the Sort and Group By
If you’d like to further segment your File Explorer, we recommend using the Group By filter as well. To do this, left-click Sort again, float your cursor over Group By (the last option on the list) and then left-click Date created:
Your File Explorer will now separate your files into distinct sections, such as Today, Yesterday, Last Week and Last Month:
We recommend moving your compressed photos to a new folder, typically your photos will now be 4-8x smaller than before, and upload much faster with barely any loss in visual quality.