There are many types of image formats but the most common ones that you can find online are PNGs, GIFs and JPGs. This is mainly because these formats are highly compatible with any type of software or program. They are also great for uploading and sharing your images online. Speaking of which, PNG files are ideal for preserving image transparency but unlike JPG and GIF, it usually compromises the file size over the image quality. Even so, this doesn’t mean that you can’t do something to reduce its size and make it more “upload-friendly”. All you need is a simple PNG file compressor like TinyPNG.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

TinyPNG is a simple web app that you can use to reduce the size of your PNG files. What’s great about this tool is that it’s purely web-based so you can just load it on any modern web browser (ex. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.). Thus, there is no need for you to download or install anything on your computer. With TinyPNG, you can shrink or compress up to twenty images per batch wherein each file should not exceed the maximum file size limit of 5MB. Aside from this, you can also use TinyPNG as a Photoshop plug-in for Windows and Mac.

Pros

• Simple and easy to use, no download required
• No registration or user log-in required
• Supports batch file compression – you can compress up to 20 images per batch
• Fast and reliable
• Maintains image quality
• Preserves image transparency
• Works on all modern web browsers – including those browsers for mobile devices

Cons

• Can’t be used offline
• Cannot be used to compress other image file formats such as GIF and JPG
• Is not mobile optimized

Discussion

What I like about TinyPNG is that it can be easily accessed online. You don’t need to download or install anything on your computer plus it won’t even require you to log-in or register. Just open the web app’s official homepage (see link below) and then you simply drag and drop the PNG files that you want to compress into its top window.

In addition, this tool also supports batch file compression so you can quickly compress multiple PNG files at once. With TinyPNG, you can compress up to 20 images per batch. Just keep in mind that this tool has a maximum file size limit of 5MB per image. Anyways, this limit is quite alright especially if you’re just optimizing your images for blogs and websites.

The way this online PNG compressor works is also very simple. Setting the technicalities aside, it basically uses a technique called “quantization” wherein the similar colors of your uploaded PNG image are being combined. So basically, when a 24-bit PNG image gets compressed into an 8-bit image, the image quality does not degrade so you can’t really tell the difference between the original file and the compressed file.

I also tried testing this app by uploading a larger PNG image (around 1.7MB in size) and it only took the web app a few seconds to compress the file to 332KB. Apparently, the size was reduced by up to 80 percent but with the same image resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.

All in all, I can definitely say that TinyPNG does a very good job when it comes to compressing PNG files. So far, I don’t have any serious issues with it since it is very responsive, lightweight and it won’t cause your browser to crash. It also works on almost any type of modern web browser including those that you use on mobile. Just take note that since this is a web app, it obviously requires a stable internet connection so you can’t use it offline. Anyways, if you’re looking for a good offline alternative for this web app, I would suggest that you try PNGoo. It should also be noted that this tool will only work on PNG images. You can’t use it to compress an image in JPG or GIF format.

Conclusion and download link

TinyPNG is definitely one of the best PNG file compression tools that you can find online. It is very stable and convenient to use plus there’s no registration required. The only thing that you should keep in mind is the file size limit. Other than that, it is definitely great for optimizing your PNG images for web use. You can use this tool to optimize your logos, icons, banners and all sorts of creative graphic designs. So go ahead and check it out.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: N/A

Requires: Works on all modern web browsers (ex. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.) on desktop operating systems (Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.)

TinyPNG homepage