Exif

[SteveL]

I need to reduce the size of a file without reducing the size of the image. I've been told that all the data in the EXIF such as the camera details are making the files very big?? I am having to reduce the size of the image smaller than I would like to allow the thumbnail to appear on my website.

Can anyone help and does anyone understand what I am going on about?!

[MItaly]

The EXIF data usually is at most few KBs; to reduce the file size, you could reduce the size of the image and/or decrease the JPEG quality. Both methods result in a degradation of the quality of the image.

[Mij]

Easy enough to get rid of the Exif and other data if you want to. Just uncheck the appropriate boxes in the Jpeg file Save options when you save the file in Irfanview. (Caution: Remember to check the boxes again and save a file with those settings after you have finished or you may remove Exif data that you did want to keep next time you save)

As MItaly says you may be disappointed by how little you save. For example I took a 1600x1200 pixel jpg image that had been saved by a camera as 417kB and resaved it with a quality setting of 70 in Irfanview. That reduced it to 193kB and it is near impossible to see any difference in the picture quality. Saving at the same quality without Exif and other metadata it became 179kB.

Try it for yourself though. Use Save As to make copies of your file with various settings and compare the results.