How to reduce PowerPoint file size without losing quality

Compress PowerPoint file for email

How to reduce PowerPoint file size without losing quality? It is not uncommon to check your PowerPoint presentation file size and see that it is has gotten too big. This cannot be very pleasant for some people because, for example, you might not be able to send it via email due to the large file size. The most common cause for presentation files coming out with big file sizes is media such as images and videos. But if you want to use specific pictures and movies in your presentation, you don’t need to worry! You can compress the media you want to embed in the project, and here is a step-by-step guide that shows you how to do that. 

What is the problem with Large PowerPoint Files?

When you have a PowerPoint project with an unnecessarily large size, you may face specific issues. You are more likely to compress your files in the future if you are introduced to some of these issues that are listed here:

• Your precious file might become corrupted
• Your software may run painfully slow
• It might cause your PowerPoint to freeze
• Loading and saving will require more time, causing frustration while working on the project
• Uploading and downloading will require more time
• You might face lags as you check the playback
• sending your file via email would be difficult
• it would mess with other applications performance
• it will use up your precious Hard Disk Space!

1. Compress all pictures in PowerPoint

The first and foremost method for reducing the size of your PowerPoint presentations is to compress the pictures used in your slides. When you use photos with large resolutions, you will generate a large-sized file.

Compressing your project pictures won’t affect the final result since you usually don’t need to display large images on full screen while making a presentation. According to recent research, you can reduce the file size of your PowerPoint presentations by 17 times if you compress your images correctly. In order to do so, you can follow these steps:

1. First of all, select the image that you have decided to compress. Now, in the ribbon on top of your screen, you should see the Pictures Tools Format tab.
2. Find the Compress Pictures button and click on it.
3. Now you can select the quality and options that you desire. Just remember that the lower the PPI number gets, the more compressed your image will be.
4. Don’t forget to check “Delete cropped areas of pictures.” Moreover, it would be best to specify whether you want to apply the compression to all images in your PowerPoint project or only the selected images.
5. Find and select the OK button. After this, you should observe the changes in quality and notice the reduction in your file size.

Recommended article: How to reduce PowerPoint file size with pictures

2. Use the correct file types

Another helpful hint for you would be reconsidering the file type of pictures in your PowerPoint presentation. JPEGs, PNGs, and TIFs are the most common file types for such aim. The most common of the three formats would be JPEG format. JPEGs have a lower quality in comparison, but the difference is almost too little to be noticed on smaller screens with decent resolutions. The benefit of having PNG file-type images is that you can have the best quality for the size.

Moreover, you may have transparent sections of your picture. The only problem is that PNGs have pretty large sizes. Images that are TIF file type are the result of top-grade cameras used in professional photography. TIF images may be the best choice for printing, but they would be overkill for a bit of PowerPoint presentation. The safest format for the size of your project is JPEG. You can save your image as JPEG file type by following these simple steps:

1. Right-click on your image in the PowerPoint project and select the Save as Picture option.
2. Find JPEG in the drop-down and select it!

3. Use PPT Compressors Websites

A straightforward method for solving such a problem would be removing the unnecessary content from your project. Still, you may not be able to do that all the time. Moreover, having heavy cutbacks and removals in your project can mess with the original design that you have in mind and may damage your presentation. You may find the perfect image for your presentation. Still, it might have a considerable size, and using it may be troublesome.

When you face such issues, you can go to PPT compressor apps or websites that will reduce the total size of your final file. Fortunately, a lot of such apps and sites are available and accessible. If you can’t afford to pay for the paid plans of these sites and applications, you can still go with the free versions, as they will do the job for you. This method might be the most convenient method amongst the methods introduced in this article. Still, it might not have a very high chance of success.

Compress PowerPoint files online for free

1. www.wecompress.com/en/
2. www.youcompress.com/powerpoint/

4. Save the project in the PPTX File Format

Every PowerPoint user well knows PPT format as it is the original format for PowerPoint files. Quite a number of PowerPoint presentations are saved with this format even today. The problem with the PPT file format is that it is old and expired. Instead, the new PPTX decreases the project sizes significantly. You can save a lot of space on file size simply by saving your project as a PPTX file or by converting existing PPT files to PPTX.

If you want to convert your existing PPT files to PPTX: open the PPT file in PowerPoint. From inside, select File > Info > Convert. Done!

Now the Save As dialog box should appear and automatically select the PPTX. You can type in the name of your new PPTX file, and then all you have to do is press Save!

5. Remove Personal and Hidden Information from Your Presentation

You can save a little bit of space simply by removing your PowerPoint project’s personal and hidden info. To do so, you should open your PowerPoint project. In the File tab, select Check for Issues, and after that, press Inspect Document.

Now you should see the Document Inspector window. Check the Document Properties and Personal Information option and select Inspect.

When the following window appears, select the Remove All option. Now, it will delete the personal and hidden info.  

6. Remove Unused Slides

When many people update one PowerPoint Presentation, it is common to have several outdated slides and practically useless. These useless slides may contain media (videos, images) that would make the project’s size huge. The easiest fix to this issue is removing such slides from the project.

7. Crop Photos With an Image Editor

Sometimes, you might not need to use a whole image to get your message across, and only part of it will do. You can make your image more effective simply by removing portions of it. Just remember to don’t crop your images via PowerPoint’s cropping tool and instead use photo editor apps or sites. When you use the PowerPoint cropping tool for trimming your images, the cut-out section of the image will only be hidden, and it will only increase your PowerPoint final file size.

You can use dedicated image editors as an alternative tool. These tools and apps include Microsoft’s built-in Paint app for simple crops and Canva (online tool). After cropping your image, you can add it to your project simply by selecting Insert Picture.

8. Dealing with the Embedded Objects

Sometimes, objects are embedded in a PowerPoint Presentation for some reason. These objects are shown as a Windows Metafile (.WMF) of the original object if this happens. The thing with WMFs is that they can include bitmap pictures only as uncompressed BMPs. Therefore, if your embedded object’s windows metafile includes bitmap data, the size of the PowerPoint project will become huge. You can deal with embedded objects very quickly.

• Firstly, right-click on the EO, click “Save as Picture…”. Then Save the picture and delete the object. Now go to the new file you created, drag it to the document, and release it. You can as well compress your new image if you wish.
• You can also right-click on the EO and click Image Object à Convert. Then choose any standard image format (pay attention that no other format might be available). Now you can compress your image simply by following the Compressing Pictures guide.

9. Compress PPT as ZIP- file

You can lessen the total size of your PowerPoint project by turning it into a ZIP- file format. Moreover, you will be able to share your PPT more conveniently. Still, there are times that your file is so big that this method wouldn’t make any significant difference when for example, you want to send your PPT project via email. At such times you can try uploading your presentation to file-sharing platforms such as DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive. Then you can share its link so that the recipient can download the project separately. Don’t forget that the best option would still be using a USB to share the PowerPoint presentation. You wouldn’t even need to decompress your images or presentation. You can easily convert a PPT into a ZIP- file by following these simple steps:

1. first, select your file in File Explorer
2. right-click on the file and click Send to option
3. find the Compressed (zipped) folder option and choose it

In case you want to decompress a ZIP- file into its original PowerPoint format, you can follow these steps:

1. first, Right-Click on your ZIP folder
2. find the Extract All… or Extract option and select it
3. now choose a location for your file to be extracted to by selecting File Location

More resources

• How to convert PowerPoint to Google slides without losing formatting
• How to reduce PowerPoint file size with video