Five image compressors, one feature checklist: batch, animation, formats, limits
I collect tools the way some people collect keyboards, and image compressors have been a long-running category in that collection. This is not a benchmark of ratios, because on the same JPEG the popular tools land within a few percent of each other and the differences drown in the quality slider. It is a feature-by-feature walk through five of them, written for the moment when you already know…
Five image compressors are compared in this article, each offering different features and limitations. TinyPNG, compressor.io and docsmall run compressors on their own servers, uploading files to their servers and returning the results. Squoosh and ImgIng run the encoders inside the browser, with Squoosh using its own WASM ports and ImgIng using WASM builds, keeping common formats on the machine. This matters for sensitive information like screenshots and client material.
Batch processing is available in TinyPNG, docsmall and ImgIng, while Squoosh and compressor.io take one image at a time. Animated GIF, APNG and WebP files can be compressed with ImgIng using inter-frame differencing, while Squoosh cannot handle animated files. AVIF output is comparable across Squoosh and ImgIng, while only ImgIng can handle SVG and PDF compression.
Controls vary across tools, with ImgIng offering two levers - quality and scale - which can be useful for resizing large photos. Limits differ, with TinyPNG allowing 500 images per month at 5 MB each, compressor.io permitting 10 MB per file, and docsmall placing a 5 MB limit on free tier files. Squoosh has no limits, and ImgIng returns the original file if it cannot be compressed without becoming larger.
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