To shrink a file, re-save it in a more efficient form: photos at a lower JPEG or WebP quality, videos at a lower bitrate, audio as MP3, and documents as a compressed PDF. Filevale's Reduce File Size does this for photos, PDFs, videos, audio, Office files and archives in your browser, and below you will find what happens to each type and what to try when a file won't get smaller.
Shrink any file in your browser
Reduce File SizeMake any file smaller: photos, PDFs, videos, audio, Word and Excel documents (as compressed PDF) and archives (re-packed ZIP). Runs in your browser.Open tool- Open Reduce File Size and drop your file on the page, or click to browse. You can add several files at once.
- Adjust the quality if you like, then click Reduce.
- Download the smaller copy. If it is still too big, change the options and run it again on the same file.
The tool accepts JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, PDF, MP4, MOV, M4V, WEBM, MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, AAC, OGG, DOCX, DOC, XLSX, XLS, PPTX, RTF, ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ and TAR.GZ files. Everything happens on your device, so your files are not uploaded. Your original is never touched; you get a new copy. The tool is free with no watermarks, and no sign-up is needed to download.
How each type of file gets smaller
Different files shrink in different ways, and knowing which one you have tells you what to expect:
- Photos are re-encoded as JPEG or WebP at the quality you pick. PNG is lossless, and a photo saved as PNG is several times larger than the same photo as JPG, so it has the most room to shrink.
- PDFs have their pages recompressed.
- Videos become H.264 at a lower bitrate and up to 1280 px wide.
- Audio becomes MP3. A WAV recording, which is uncompressed, has the most room to shrink.
- Word, Excel and PowerPoint files become a compressed PDF. Keep the original if you still need to edit it.
- ZIP, RAR, 7Z and TAR archives are re-packed as a ZIP with maximum compression.
When a PDF is still too big
PDF Size BreakdownSee which pages and what content make a PDF heavy, with a page-by-page table. Results show right on the page.Open toolBefore shrinking a large PDF again, check what makes it heavy. PDF Size Breakdown shows a page-by-page table of which pages contain images and drawing, without changing the file. Scanned pages and photo-heavy pages are usually the problem.
For scans and image-heavy PDFs, Compress PDF goes further: it re-renders each page as a JPEG image. These PDFs shrink a lot, but the text is no longer selectable, so keep the original if you need to search or edit it. The guide on compressing a PDF for email covers what to do when even that is not enough.
Shrinking videos and audio
For a video you want to send or upload, Compress Video is the dedicated tool, and the guide on reducing video file size walks through sending to email, WhatsApp and Discord. For voice memos and recordings, use Compress Audio, or turn a big WAV into an MP3 with WAV to MP3. Filevale can't trim or cut videos, so a long clip shrinks only by lowering its quality, not by shortening it.
Built-in options on Windows and Mac
Both systems can zip files without extra software. On Windows, right-click the files and choose Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder. On a Mac, right-click in Finder and choose Compress. This works well for text documents and folders of mixed files, but zipping photos, videos or PDFs that are already compressed barely changes their size. For those, re-encoding with the tools above is what actually saves space.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my file not get any smaller?
Some files are already as small as they can be, such as a well-compressed JPEG or a ZIP full of photos. In that case Reduce File Size tells you so and keeps the original, instead of giving you a bigger file. For a PDF, check it with PDF Size Breakdown and try Compress PDF if it is mostly scans or images.
Will shrinking a file lower its quality?
For photos, videos and audio, yes, a little: they are re-encoded at a lower quality or bitrate. You choose the quality, so you can raise it and run the file again if the result looks or sounds worse than you want.
Can I shrink several files at once?
Yes. Drop several files on the page together and download the results one by one or as a single ZIP. Batch processing is included for free, with no sign-up.