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Perhaps you’re a content creator who wants to save on space when it comes to storage?
Or, maybe you want your designs sent quickly across the globe? Either way, reducing your file size is an extremely good strategy.
Canva’s options for file reduction are limited to those who pay for Canva Pro. There are, however, options that Canva makes available for those who do not have the paid version of their platform.
In this guide we will cover the following:
- Different ways to reduce file size
- Cropping your design elements
- Image compression formats
- Online compression, and resizing different design elements
- How small or large Canva allows you to resize to
- How to reduce file size on your computer/desktop
- How to reduce file size on your mobile device.
Let’s get into it!
Different Ways to Reduce File Size in Canva
There are many ways to reduce your file size within Canva.
The Canva Pro version allows you to reduce your file size within the application, without leaving the website. This feature is only available to those clients with a paid version of the application.
Luckily, there are various tricks you can use to reduce your file size — without paying for Canva’s paid version. This allows you to get the best out of Canva at an affordable rate.
Small hacks — cropping your elements, image compression, and online compression — are all extremely useful.
Cropping
Cropping elements within your project is a great way to reduce file size. You’re able to crop photos, elements, and videos within your design. Canva offers simple instructions on their website for computer or mobile device users.
If you are on the Canva website, simply:
- Click the element you are wanting to crop
- Click ‘Crop’ at the top portion of the screen
- Drag the crop handle to adjust the element to your desired size
- Click ‘Done’
If you are on mobile:
- Tap on the element you want to crop
- Tap on ‘Crop’ at the bottom of the screen
- Tap and drag the crop handle to your desired crop size
- Tap ‘Done’
Image Compression Formats
Canva offers several image compression formats. JPG and PNG are available free. Canva Pro, Canva Teams, and Canva for Nonprofit support SVG, quality adjustment, scaling, and file size compression.
Canva offers PDF Standard for illustrations, texts, and graphics. PDF Print and PPTX (Microsoft Powerpoint) are available for presentations created on Canva. Canva enables video compression, as well as the generation of GIFs and Mp4s.
Images can be downloaded in a variety of file types. Canva provides an easy to follow pros and cons list for each file type. All supported file types are available for computer and mobile device users.
Online Compression
Canva Pro users can compress their projects on the Canva website. When you’re ready to download, simply choose your preferred file type from the drop down menu. File size is adjusted with a ‘quality slider’ tool.
Converting The Image To Webp
Static WebP images can be uploaded to the Canva website, for use in your project.
With Canva, you can convert WebP to JPG — without fretting over size or image quality loss.
How To Reduce File Size in Canva: Computer/Desktop
Once you learn the tricks, reducing file size — without compromising on quality — is easy.
To reduce file size, simply crop unnecessary elements from your image before downloading it as a JPG. If file size isn’t your priority, desktop users can employ any of the other downloadable file types supported by Canva.
How To Reduce File Size in Canva: Mobile
Mobile users have access to the same resizing tools as computer users. Additionally, resizing and cropping design elements can help you reduce your file size.
In the next section, we’ll see how you can resize your design elements and reduce your file size within Canva.
Resizing Design Elements
Canva makes it simple to resize your design elements — whether you’re creating on a desktop or a mobile device. If you are using Canva on your desktop, here’s what you need to do:
- Click the element you want to resize — for multiple elements, hold shift on your keyboard
- Click the resize handles on the corners of the selected element and drag to your desired size.
If you’re using a mobile device to resize an element, follow these steps:
- Tap the element you want to resize — to select multiple, tap and hold to bring up a menu from which you can select a dotted box
- Tap on any resize handle and drag to your desired size.
With Canva, resizing design elements is an easy way to reduce file size within your project. Both desktop and mobile versions of Canva offer a user-friendly interaction.
How To Resize Individual Pages in Your Canva Design
Resizing individual pages isn’t offered by Canva — yet. By default, all pages in a design are the same size. Fortunately, Canva has a workaround for this limitation.
Design sizes can be set separately and added to a folder. These designs can be imported into a folder on Canva. Now you are free to copy and paste those elements into other designs.
Although Canva doesn’t currently support the resizing of individual pages, they are clearly aware of the demand for this feature. Workarounds, devised by Canva, are an example of the company’s commitment to the needs of all users.
Canva Resizing Options: How Large or Small Can You Go?
The minimum dimensions offered are 40 x 40 px (pixels). The maximum dimensions are 8000 x 3125 px.
If your design falls outside of those limits, Canva does offer some flexibility.
The Bottom Line
Canva’s free and Pro service both offer a great deal of functionality to their users. Without a doubt, the Canva Pro service is more convenient. For some users, that might be critical.
For other users, working to a tight budget is key. In this case, with a little patience and know-how, the free version of Canva offers more than adequate file size reduction and download capabilities.