There are several reasons why you may want to resize your photos. Maybe you’re running out of storage space on your device and need to free up some space. Or maybe you need to send a photo via email or a messaging app and it’s too large to attach.
Sometimes you may even need to resize an image to upload it to a specific site. Regardless of the reason, changing the file size of an image is relatively easy to do.
This article will describe the different ways to reduce the size of your photos on your iPhone.
How to Take Photos with a Smaller File Size on an iPhone
When it comes to iPhone photography, we’ve come a long way in a short time. Cameras have gotten better and better, allowing us to take truly amazing photos.
As the quality of our images has increased, so has the file size. A single image can now take up between 1.5 and 5 MB of space, which can add up quickly if you’re an avid photographer.
There is no easy way to resize photos on an iPhone or iPad without losing quality. But there are some solutions that can help make iPhone images smaller file size without sacrificing too much quality.
Change the file format of your photos
When it comes to photos and videos, we all want to be able to capture high-quality images and footage. What many people don’t realize is that file format can make a big difference in terms of size.
By default, your iPhone saves photos with the .jpg extension. While JPG is a great format for most photographs, it is not always the best choice for file size. If you want to take photos with a smaller file size, try changing the format to PNG or HEIF.
To do this, follow these simple steps.
- Go to Settings > Camera > Formats.

- Select the desired format.

Please note that not all formats are compatible with all devices, so you may want to stick with JPG if you plan to share your photos with others.
Adjust photo resolution
The resolution of a photograph is the number of pixels (or points) that make up the image. The higher the resolution, the sharper and clearer the photo will be. But did you know that you can adjust the resolution of your photos?
By reducing the resolution, you can reduce the file size of your photos. To change the resolution of your photos, follow these steps.
- Go to Settings > Camera > Record Video.

- Select “720p HD at 30 fps”, “1080p HD at 30 fps”, “1080 HD at 60 fps” and “4k at 30 fps”. adjusting from there according to your needs.

Use High Efficiency Image Container (HEIC) settings in the camera app
If you have iOS 11 or later, you can take advantage of the new High Efficiency setting in the Camera app. This setting uses a new compression method that results in smaller photo files without sacrificing quality.
Follow these steps to activate this setting.
- Open the Camera app.

- Go to Settings > Format > High Efficiency.

Once HEIC is enabled, all new photos you take will be saved in this new format, reducing the file size while keeping their original quality intact.
If you ever need to send a photo to someone who doesn’t have an iPhone or other device that can view HEIC files, simply open the photo in the Photos app and tap Share > Duplicate > Duplicate as JPEG.
How to reduce the file size of existing images on an iPhone
Have you ever taken a photo with your iPhone and then realized it’s too big to send via email or text message? Or maybe you want to save some storage space on your phone by reducing the file size of some of your existing photos. Either way, reducing the file size of a photo on your iPhone is easy.
Here are some tools that can help.
Online compressors like TinyWow
If you don’t want to download another app to your already overflowing home screen, you can also use an online compressor like littlewow. Simply head to their website, upload the photos you want to compress, and wait for the compression to take place.

Once you’re done, you can download the compressed photos to your iPhone or save them directly to your Dropbox or iCloud account.
Compression applications
There are several applications available that will allow you to compress the file size of your photos without losing quality. One of the most popular applications is Image sizewhich is available for free on the App Store.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, simply open it and select the photos you want to compress. Then the app will do its magic and reduce the file size of your photos so they take up less space on your camera roll.
Trim
This one takes a little more time than the first two options, but it’s worth it if you’re short on storage space. When you crop a photo, you are basically removing parts of the image that are not essential to the main subject. For example, if you have a photo of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower, you can crop out the sky or the ground so that the focus is solely on you and the tower.
To crop a photo on your iPhone, follow these simple steps.
- Open the Photos app and select the image you want to edit.

- Tap “Edit” in the top right corner and select “Crop.” From there, you can choose how much of the photo you want to keep and how much you want to crop.

- Once you’re happy with your selection, tap “Done” in the top right corner and you’re done! Now you have a cropped photo that takes up less space on your camera roll.

Maximize your iPhone storage space
Your iPhone’s camera roll is probably full of photos that take up too much storage space. But erasing those memories is not an option. Fortunately, there are a few ways to reduce the file size of existing images on your iPhone so you can free up some space without having to delete any precious memories.
You can use a compression tool like Image Size or TinyWow, or crop unwanted parts of your photos to make iPhone images a smaller file size. Alternatively, you can modify your iPhone’s camera settings and select a lower resolution or a format that reduces the size of your photos.
Try one (or all) of these methods the next time you’re running out of storage space.