How to send large photos by email without hitting the size limit

Updated October 18, 2026

A modern phone photo is often 3–8 MB. Attach five of them and your email is too big to send, or it bounces back from the recipient's inbox. Here's how to get photos through.

How big can an email be?

Gmail lets you attach up to 25 MB per email, and Outlook.com up to 20 MB. Larger files are usually turned into a cloud link (Google Drive or OneDrive) automatically. Remember that the recipient's email provider has a limit too, and many workplace systems are stricter, so a smaller email is always safer.

Option 1: Compress the photos (best for a handful of photos)

For viewing on a screen, photos don't need to be several megabytes. Compressing to about 500 KB each keeps them looking practically the same on a phone or laptop while cutting the size by 80–90%.

Open Compress to 500 KB (or 1 MB if the recipient might print them).
Drop in all the photos at once. They're processed in your browser and never uploaded.
Click Download all and attach the smaller copies.

Ten photos at 500 KB is about 5 MB, comfortably under every common limit.

Option 2: Resize them

If you don't need full resolution, resizing to around 2000 pixels on the long side with Fit inside shrinks files dramatically and still looks sharp on any screen. This is a good choice for photos that will only be viewed, not printed.

Option 3: Share a link instead

For dozens of photos or full-quality originals, attaching isn't the right tool. Upload them to a shared album or cloud folder and email the link. This also avoids filling up the recipient's inbox.

iPhone photos bouncing or not opening?

iPhone photos may be HEIC files, which many computers can't open. Convert them with HEIC to JPG first. The JPGs will be larger, so compress them afterwards if you're near the limit. Our HEIC guide explains more.

Privacy tip

Email sends the original file, including hidden data such as the GPS location where each photo was taken. If the photos were taken at home, remove the location before sending them to people you don't know well.

Tools used in this guide

Compress to 500KBShrink large photos to under 500KB for email, forums and website uploads. Compress to 1MBReduce photos to under 1MB while keeping full detail. Resize ImageResize JPG, PNG and WebP images to exact pixel dimensions, or choose a preset for social media. HEIC to JPGConvert iPhone HEIC photos to JPG in your browser.