Compress PNG online free
PNG is the go-to format for logos, icons, screenshots and any image with transparency. The downside: PNG files are often 3 to 5 times larger than an equivalent JPG. With TinyFoto, you compress PNGs while preserving transparency, right in your browser, with no install.
How to compress a PNG with TinyFoto
- Open the main page
- Drag your PNG (or several — up to 30 at once)
- Keep the format as "PNG" to preserve transparency
- Pick a compression level
- Download the optimized version
Does TinyFoto preserve transparency?
Yes — as long as you keep the PNG format or convert to WEBP. Both formats support an alpha channel (transparency). Transparency is only lost when converting to JPG, since JPG doesn't support that channel — the transparent background turns white.
How small can a PNG get?
- Simple logo or icon: 30% to 70% reduction
- Colorful screenshot: 25% to 50% reduction
- PNG of a photo (wrong format): up to 90% if converted to JPG/WEBP
Should I convert PNG to another format?
Depends on the content:
- Regular photo with no transparency: convert to JPG (up to 95% smaller) or WEBP
- Logo/icon with transparency: WEBP is a ~50% smaller alternative to PNG, with the same transparency
- Screenshot with thin text: keep PNG (preserves crispness)
Can I compress several PNGs at once?
Yes, up to 30 files per batch. You can download as a single .zip or one by one. Useful for optimizing all images on a website, app or portfolio without repetitive work.
Why PNG files are so large
PNG uses lossless compression — it preserves every pixel with absolute fidelity. That's great for quality, but produces larger files than lossy formats like JPG or WEBP.
PNG also stores extra data that's often unnecessary: ICC color profiles, creation metadata, embedded text chunks. These invisible extras can add tens of kilobytes without any visual benefit. Finally, PNGs with many colors or complex gradients grow quickly — unlike PNGs with few colors (logos, flat icons), where compression is far more efficient.
Compressing PNG while keeping transparency
Transparency in PNG is stored in the alpha channel — an extra layer of data defining the opacity of each pixel. Compressing a PNG while preserving transparency means reducing the color channels without touching the alpha channel.
TinyFoto does this automatically when you keep the PNG format. The result is a smaller file with the same transparent background. Converting to WEBP also preserves transparency and produces an even smaller file — on average 40% to 60% lighter than the original PNG.
Transparency is only lost when you convert to JPG, because JPG has no alpha channel. In that case, the background turns white.
PNG for the web: impact on performance
Unoptimized PNG files are one of the most common causes of slow websites. A portfolio, online store or blog with heavy PNGs can multiply load times by 3 or 4 compared to the optimized version. Google PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals directly measure image weight — compressing PNGs before publishing is one of the highest-impact actions for improving your speed score.
Frequently asked questions
Is compressing PNG different from compressing JPG?
Yes. JPG is already a lossy format, so compressing it means reducing quality further. PNG is lossless — compressing it within the PNG format reduces metadata and optimizes the internal algorithm without quality degradation. Lossy compression in PNG only occurs when you convert to JPG or WEBP.
Will the High level degrade my PNG?
The High level applies more compression during re-encoding, which may introduce some detail loss. For logos and transparency-critical images, prefer Low or Medium level.
Can I compress PNG and keep the transparent background for use in PowerPoint or Word?
Yes. The PNG compressed by TinyFoto keeps the alpha channel intact. Both PowerPoint and Word support PNG with transparency — just insert normally after compressing.
What's the smallest a PNG can get?
Depends on the content. Simple logos with few colors can be reduced 60–80%. PNGs of photos (wrong format choice) can shrink 90%+ when converted to JPG or WEBP. Already well-optimized PNGs with complex gradients might only reduce 10–20%.