Buyers are on phones, often on bad connections

A listing with ten heavy photos takes seconds to appear on mobile data. Those seconds are when people go back to the search results and open someone else's listing instead.

Dimensions matter more than quality settings

A 6000 pixel photo at 90% quality is still enormous. Etsy only needs 2000 pixels on the shortest side, so capping the width usually saves more than the compression does.

Compression damage is permanent

Every save at a lossy quality throws detail away for good. Compress once from your original, not repeatedly from an already compressed copy.

Texture is where low quality shows first

Flat colours survive heavy compression. Knitwear, pottery glaze, wood grain and fine stitching are exactly where it becomes visible — and exactly what handmade buyers zoom in on.

What is Etsy's image file size limit?

20 MB per photo, which almost nothing exceeds. The number that actually matters is loading speed — a listing with ten 5 MB photos loads slowly on a phone, and buyers on slow connections leave before the images appear. Under 1 MB per photo is a sensible target.

Does compressing images hurt my Etsy listings?

Not at sensible settings. At 80 to 90% JPG quality the difference is invisible on screen, while the file is often a fifth of the size. Below about 70% you start seeing soft edges and blotchy areas on textured products like knitwear, pottery and wood.

Should I use JPG or WebP for Etsy photos?

JPG is the safe default and what most sellers use. WebP produces smaller files at the same visual quality and supports transparency, and Etsy accepts it. If your image has a transparent background, WebP keeps it while JPG will fill it with white.

Why is my compressed image still large?

Usually because the dimensions are still huge. A 6000 pixel wide photo compressed to 80% is still a big file. Etsy only needs 2000 pixels on the shortest side, so limiting the width is often a bigger saving than the compression itself.

Is my photo uploaded to a server?

No. The compression runs in your browser using canvas. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored.