How to email large photos without losing quality

cover image · 1200×600

You tried to send a few photos from your phone and your email bounced them back: “attachment too large.” Annoying — but easy to fix. Here’s how to get crisp photos under the limit in about a minute, without uploading them anywhere.

Why your photos are too big

Modern phone cameras shoot 12–50 megapixel images. A single photo can be 5–12 MB, and most email providers cap attachments around 20–25 MB total. Three or four photos and you’re already over.

The good news: email is viewed on screens, and screens don’t need anywhere near that much detail. Trimming the size barely changes how the photo looks.

The quick fix: resize, then compress

Two small steps do almost all the work. First resize the dimensions down to something screen-friendly, then compress to shave off the rest. Both happen right in your browser.

PXTry the toolResize imageOpen
1
Add your photosdrag them in, or tap to pick from your phone.
2
Resize the long edge to ~1200pxplenty sharp for any screen, a fraction of the size.
3
Compressswitch to the compress tab and let Squishly trim the file.
4
Download and attachgrab them all and drop them into your email.

Keeping it sharp

Worried about quality? At 1200px and a high compression setting, the difference is invisible on a phone or laptop screen — but the file is often 80% smaller. If you’re sending a photo to be printed large, keep the long edge at 2000px instead.

Tip
Sending to someone who will edit the photo later? Send the resized JPG, but keep your full-resolution original on your device — Squishly never touches it.
JPGTry the toolCompress JPGOpen

Sending a whole batch

For a dozen photos or more, resize and compress them all at once, then use “download all” to get a single ZIP. Attach the ZIP, or share it from your cloud drive — either way it’s small and quick.

And because every step runs locally, none of your photos are uploaded to a stranger’s server along the way. That’s the whole point of Squishly.

In short

Resize to about 1200px, compress, attach. A minute of work, photos that actually send, and quality nobody will question.

The short version
  • Resize the long edge to about 1200px.
  • Compress to trim the file further.
  • Attach — your photos stay private the whole time.