What does TinyPNG do?
TinyPNG uses smart lossy compression techniques to reduce the file size of your PNG files. By selectively decreasing the number of colors in the image, fewer bytes are required to store the data. The effect is nearly invisible but it makes a very large difference in file size!
Why should I use TinyPNG?
PNG is useful because it’s the only widely supported format that can store partially transparent images. The format uses compression, but the files can still be large. Use TinyPNG to shrink images for your apps and sites. It will use less bandwidth and load faster.
Can anyone tell the difference?
Excellent question! Let me give you a side by side comparison. Below are two photos of my cousin. The left image is saved as 24-bit PNG directly from Adobe Photoshop. On the right is the same image processed by TinyPNG. Spot any difference?
File size: 57 KB
File size: 15 KB
How does it work?
Excellent question! When you upload a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file, similar colors in your image are combined. This technique is called “quantization”. By reducing the number of colors, 24-bit PNG files can be converted to much smaller 8-bit indexed color images. All unnecessary metadata is stripped too. The result: better PNG files with 100% support for transparency. Have your cake and eat it too!
In the above image the file size is reduced by more than 70%. I have excellent eyesight but can’t spot the difference either! Use the optimized image to save bandwidth and loading time and your website visitors will thank you.
Is it supported everywhere?
Excellent question! The files produced by TinyPNG are displayed perfectly on all modern browsers including mobile devices. Still need to support Internet Explorer 6? It normally ignores PNG transparency and displays a solid background color. With TinyPNG the background becomes transparent again. Binary transparency without any workarounds!
Is it safe to use animated PNG?
Excellent question! Chrome, Firefox and Safari all support APNG. Google added their support in Chrome 59 only just recently in June 2017 so it is expected that the format will really start to take off from now! It only leaves Microsoft Edge and we can vote for their support.
Apple added animated stickers to iMessage with the release of iOS 10. If you want to create and compress stickers under 500 KB take a look at the iMessage Panda sticker example on Github.
What about Photoshop?
Excellent question! Only Photoshop CC 2015 and 2017 can save images as indexed PNG files with alpha transparency. With other versions it is impossible and Photoshop CS5 cannot even display them properly.
You can use Save for Web to export your images as 24-bit transparent PNG files and upload them to TinyPNG. We’ll convert them to tiny indexed PNG files. You can also install the TinyPNG Photoshop plugin. It allows you to scale, preview and save compressed PNG and JPEG images straight from Photoshop.