How to Reduce Image Size in Photoshop (Without Losing Quality)

The modern way to reduce image size in Photoshop:

1. Go to File → Export → Export As.
2. Select JPG format.
3. Adjust the Quality slider — start at 80% and decrease until you reach your target file size.
4. Check the file size preview in the bottom-left corner.
5. Click Export.

This method gives you real-time file size feedback as you adjust quality.

The classic approach: File → Export → Save for Web (Legacy).

• Select JPEG and set quality to 60–85%.
• Use the 2-Up or 4-Up view to compare quality vs file size.
• Enable Progressive for better web loading.
• Resize the image dimensions if needed.

Before compressing, check if your image is larger than needed:

1. Image → Image Size — reduce dimensions to your target (e.g., 1200px wide for blog images).
2. Then use Export As to compress the smaller image.

A 4000×3000 px image reduced to 1200×900 px will be dramatically smaller before any compression is applied.

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