How to Compress Images and Videos in a PowerPoint File

Your PowerPoint presentation will likely contain engaging media content, such as eye-catching images that convey emotions at a glance and videos that bring concepts to life. However, as these media-rich presentations become complex, their file sizes can become unmanageable. Fortunately, Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to compress images and videos in your presentation file.

A large PowerPoint file takes up more storage space and makes it difficult to share via email. This guide will walk you through the necessary steps for compressing photos and videos in your PowerPoint file, effectively reducing its size.

How to Compress Images in a PowerPoint Presentation

Microsoft PowerPoint makes it relatively easy to reduce the size of images in your presentation. If you only want to compress a select few pictures in your PowerPoint file, use these steps:

Step 1: Launch PowerPoint on your computer and open the presentation where you want to compress images.

Step 2: Select the image you want to compress. You can also select multiple images by holding Control on your keyboard.

Step 3: In the Picture Format tab, click the Compress Pictures option.

Step 4: Tick the checkboxes that read ‘Apply only to this picture’ and ‘Delete cropped areas of pictures.’

Step 5: Under Resolution, select your preferred option depending on how you intend to use the picture, such as viewing on screen or printing. Then, click OK.

After you complete the above steps, PowerPoint will compress the selected images. If you want to compress all the images in your PowerPoint presentation simultaneously, use the steps mentioned above and uncheck the ‘Apply only to this picture’ option in Step 4.

How to Change the Default Resolution for Images in a PowerPoint File

Although PowerPoint makes it simple to compress images in your presentation, it can be tiresome to perform this process repeatedly. To avoid that, you set the default resolution for images in your PowerPoint file using the following steps.

Step 1: Open the PowerPoint file where you want to set the default resolution for images. Click the File menu in the top-left corner.

Step 2: Select Options from the left pane.

Step 3: In the PowerPoint Options window, select the Advanced tab.

Step 4: Scroll down to the Image Size and Quality section and uncheck the ‘Do not compress images in file’ option. Then, use the drop-down menu next to Default resolution to select your preferred option. Then, click OK.

To reduce the image size even more, you can tick the ‘Discard editing data’ checkbox. This will allow PowerPoint to erase any stored data used to restore the image to its original state. If you select this option, you won’t be able to restore the image after editing it.

How to Compress Videos in a PowerPoint Presentation

It’s not just pictures that can increase the size of your PowerPoint file. If your presentation contains videos, you can compress them as well, effectively reducing the overall file size. This can also improve the media playback performance in PowerPoint.

To compress video files in your PowerPoint presentation, use these steps:

Step 1: Launch PowerPoint on your PC and open the presentation that contains the video file you want to compress.

Step 2: Click the File menu in the top left corner.

Step 3: Select the Info tab from the left pane. You can check the total size of media files in your presentation under the ‘Media Size and Performance’ section.

Step 4: Click the Compress Media button and select your preferred resolution from the available options: Full HD (1080p), HD (720p), and Standard (480p).

Step 5: Wait for PowerPoint to compress the media files and click the Close button.

And that’s about it. PowerPoint will compress all the videos in your file to the specified resolution. It’s worth noting that the above process will also compress any audio files in your PowerPoint presentation.

If you are not satisfied with the quality of the media files after compression, head to the Info tab again, click the Compress Media button and select Undo.

Maximum Impact With Minimum Size

Your PowerPoint files can quickly grow in size if you add many images or videos. Thankfully, there’s no need to decrease the number of images or videos in your presentation, as PowerPoint makes it easy to compress them.