One common problem with email attachments, especially photos, is that they often become too large to send and receive or slow down page loading for the recipient. Resizing images for email attachments makes your files more manageable and ensures that you meet the requirements of size limitations on most email providers at around 20-25 MB. This guide will walk you through some simple steps, useful tools, and tips on how to maintain good quality while not taking up too much space in the process.
Here are some of the top reasons you should resize images before sending them via email:
Faster Sending and Receiving: Large images take longer to upload and download, especially in recipients' slow internet connections.
Avoiding Email Limitations: Most email clients, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, limit attachment sizes around 20-25 MB. Getting your attachments at those sizes ensures they will send and receive faster.
Better User Experience: The recipient will be able to view an email with attachments in a snap without spending considerable amounts of time waiting for lengthy load times or scrolling through oversized images.
Less Usage of Storage: Smaller files use less storage within the email account, which is crucial for the sender and the recipient.
Open an Image Editor Image editing tool: Microsoft Paint Preview, Mac online tool: Canva, PicResize, TinyPNG Select Resize: Look for resize, scale, or export image format Adjust Dimensions and Quality Lower dimensions both width and height to 70-80% at least in order to maintain a small file size without a significant loss of viewable quality.
Save the Resized Image: Save or export your resized image, if at all possible in a compressed format, like JPEG. JPEGs are much smaller than PNGs and can display good quality.
Email Header Images 600-800 pixels wide
I+300-600 pixels wide
Image Thumbnails or Icons in E-mail: 150-300 pixels wide
If you are not sure, a size of about 600 pixels is always a good choice for most attachments to e-mail. The image size is big enough to be easily readable but not too big in size.
There are many tools that can resize images for attachment to e-mail without requiring elaborate software. Here's a glimpse of some of them:
Best for: Quick basic resizing on Windows.
Use:
Open image in Paint
From the toolbar, select "Resize"
Choose percentage of reduction or pixel-based such as "50%" or 800x600
Save resized image in JPEG to shrink the size further
Best for: No extra software needed mac faster to resize images.
Use:
Open image in Preview
Under "Tools," select "Adjust Size"
Type in new sizes making sure that scale proportionally is checked to ensure the new sizes correspond with the ratio of the actual image.
Save as compressed JPG
Good for: Basic resizing, with design element integrations
How it Works
Upload your image to Canva.
Use a custom canvas size or the email template
Resize and then save JPG
Good for: Compression without loss of quality
How it Works
Upload your image to TinyPNG.
The compressor compresses the image automatically, reducing file size without a perceivable loss of quality .
Download your optimised image.
For custom resizing and quality control
How to Apply
Open your image in Photoshop
Under "Image" click "Image Size."
Create new size and set 70-80% quality
Use the "Save for Web" to compress the file further
Use JPEG Format: JPEG is usually the best format for attachments to email, as it compresses quite nicely while still keeping good image quality. Avoid using PNG with high resolution unless you absolutely need it to be transparent, though this often tends to increase the overall file size.
Reduce Resolution: The resolution can easily be reduced, especially if it's intended for a digital use. The resolution of 72 DPI is sufficient for most email uses, since higher DPI is usually for the print purposes.
Limit the image size: Open an image editor and reduce the dimensions to about 600-800 pixels in width. This is generally large enough to be sharp in an email but small enough not to generate huge file sizes.
Save for File Size: Strive to have each image be less than 1 MB, with a goal of 100-500 KB, if possible. You can get pretty close to this without loss of quality using TinyPNG or saving in Photoshop using the "Save for Web" settings.
Use Compression Tools: If your re-sized images are still too large, use a compression tool that will bring the file size down further without losing quality. Again, these are all super fast to use through TinyPNG, TinyJPG, or Compress JPEG.
Final Check Appearance: Before you send the email, preview it to make sure that the resized images appear as they should. Because images can look different in different email clients or on different devices, this simple check ensures they look as you expect.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Resize an Image in Canva for Attachment to an Email
If you want to resize images easily, Canva is a good online tool to look into. Here's a quick guide on how to resize an image for email attachments in Canva.
Step 1: Open Canva and Select "Create a Design":
Select custom dimensions or start with one of the template designs. Upload Your Image: Drag and drop your image into Canva. Resize and Adjust:
Reduce the image size so that it just fits in the template by using the corner handles. Attachments to an email can be no larger than 600 pixels in width.
Save as Web-friendly
Select "JPEG" and use the quality slider to reduce the file size if necessary. Save your image and attach it to your email.
JPEG would be the better choice because its file size is much smaller, yet it usually retains a good-quality image. PNG would be larger in file size and used usually when an image needs a transparency function.
1. How large can attachments to emails be for images?
Keep images around 600 to 800 pixels wide so that file sizes of 100-500KB are optimal for uploading quickly and making attaching easier.
2. Do I size my phone pictures for emailing?
That's true, on mobile devices, resizing is absolutely easy with the help of applications like Photo Resizer (Android) and Image Size (iOS). It directly provides options to resize an image and also helps one to add his desired dimension.
3. How do I compress my file without losing quality?
Select a high-quality image, downsize it, then compress your image with a tool like TinyPNG .
4. Why is my attached image distorted when I send it via email?
Distortion usually occurs if the image ratio is not preserved or if the picture is resized within the email body. Resize the image ahead of attaching to obviate distortion and avoid resizing within the email client.
5. Does it resize multiple images at once?
Yes, services like TinyPNG and Photoshop will offer batch resizing and compression, such that you will be able to batch process many images at once that will save you more time emailing.
Image resizing in emails helps them to send faster and users to get more out of the images. Reducing the file size of an image and keeping its dimensions manageable will give you nicely-looking professional images that load pretty quickly even on slower connections. Tools, like Canva, TinyPNG, and Preview on a Mac, make resizing images a few clicks away, making sure communications by e-mail are clear, efficient, and pleasing.