Reddit image upload size, and how to shrink a big screenshot so it posts

Reddit does not ask for one pixel size for image posts, and its main help pages did not state an upload limit we could confirm in November 2026; 20 MB per image is the figure most guides repeat. What usually goes wrong is simpler: a screenshot from a high-resolution screen is huge, uploads slowly and may be squeezed by Reddit anyway. Crop it to the part that matters, scale it to about half, and compress it with compress image before you post.

Why screenshots get so big

• High-resolution screens. Phones and many laptops have two or three screen pixels for every pixel of layout, so a screenshot of a phone screen can be well over 1,000 pixels wide and 2,000 tall.
• PNG. Most devices save screenshots as PNG, which keeps every pixel exactly. That is good for text, but a screenshot with photos in it can run to several MB.
• Long scrolling captures. A full-page capture can be ten or twenty screens tall, and a feed shrinks it to a sliver anyway.

Steps

1. Crop to the point. Open crop image, choose the screenshot and tap Free, then drag the box around only the comment, message or chart people need to see. Download it.
2. Hide what should not be shared. Usernames, phone numbers, faces and notifications in a screenshot are easy to forget. Use blur image to cover them before posting.
3. Scale it down. Open resize image, choose Percent, and tap 50. On a high-resolution screen this halves both sides and removes about three quarters of the pixels, and text is still sharp. Skip this if the screenshot is already under about 1,500 pixels on its longest side.
4. Compress it. Open compress image, choose File size and a target such as 500 KB or 1 MB, or type your own. Under Output format, pick:
   • Keep (PNG) for a screenshot that is mostly text and flat colour, so letters stay crisp;
   • JPG or WebP for a screenshot that is mostly photos, which shrinks far more.
5. Compare the before and after sizes shown in the result, zoom in to check the text, and download.
6. Post it on Reddit as an image post, or add several to a gallery.

Which settings for which screenshot

These targets are not Reddit rules. They load quickly on mobile data and leave Reddit little reason to squeeze the image again.

About PNG targets

PNG is lossless, so its quality setting does nothing. To reach a size target with PNG, the compressor makes the image smaller in pixels instead. That is why step 3 matters for text screenshots: scaling first gives you control over the size, and the compressor rarely has to shrink it further. For photos, JPG or WebP reach the same target without reducing the pixel size.

When it still will not upload

• The subreddit does not allow images. Some communities only take text or link posts, so the image option may be missing. Check the community's rules.
• The format is not accepted. If a HEIC photo from an iPhone is refused, convert it to JPG first with the image converter.
• A slow connection times out. Compress to a smaller target, such as 300 KB, and try again.
• The image looks blurry after posting. Reddit may re-compress uploads. Starting from a sharp, reasonably sized image helps; very small text is the first thing to suffer, so crop tighter rather than shrinking more.

Questions

What size should a Reddit image be?

There is no required pixel size for posts. Anything from about 1,080 to 2,000 pixels on the long side shows clearly on phones and computers, and a file under 1 MB uploads quickly.

Does compressing remove hidden information?

Re-encoding the image drops most metadata, such as camera details and GPS location, which is usually what you want before posting publicly.

Are my screenshots uploaded to this site?

No. Cropping, blurring, resizing and compressing all happen in your browser, and the files stay on your device until you post them. None of these tools connect to Reddit.