All Collections
Publishing for Instagram
Troubleshooting
Tailwind says my pictures are too large! How can I make them smaller so that I can upload them to Tailwind?
Tailwind says my pictures are too large! How can I make them smaller so that I can upload them to Tailwind?

Learn how to compress photos using the online tool Optimizilla.

Cash Daugherty avatar
Written by Cash Daugherty
Updated over a week ago

Trying to upload photos from your computer but they're a bit too big? The maximum file size for images uploaded to be auto posted to Instagram is 8MB and the maximum file size for images in Tailwind for Pinterest is 5MB. In order to upload images to Tailwind, you'll have to make the file size smaller first. 

There are many ways to compress or resize photos in order to make the file size smaller. One option is Optimizilla.

Optimizilla is an easy-to-use online tool that allows you to compress up to 20 photos at a time. 

Here's how to compress your images for Tailwind using Optimizilla:

  1. Go to the Optimizilla website.  

  2.  Drag and drop images to the Drop Your Files Here box or click Upload Files to add your photos.

3. Once you have dropped or added your photos, they will start uploading and then compressing with a progression bar. 

Once they’re done cooking, you will see a percentage of how much of the image was compressed. 

You can then see how the original version compares to the compressed version and check that you’re comfortable with the quality. On the right, there will be an adjustment bar allowing you to choose a fine balance between compression and quality (more quality = bigger file size). Image files must be less than 8MB to upload to Tailwind.

4. Click on the Download All button to grab all of your newly compressed photos, or you can select them individually if you've changed your mind on some. 

On Mac: 

In your Downloads folder, you'll see the imagecompressor.zip file first. Click on it to unpack and reveal the actual imagecompressor folder with all your compressed photos. 

On PC: 

In your Downloads folder, you'll find the imagecompressor.zip file, you'll need to right click on it and choose Extract All to unzip the compressed photos. Once unzipped, you can then upload!

5. You can finally either continue to upload until you reach your limit or hit the Clear Queue button to remove all your previously compressed photos and get ready for your next round!

Let us know if you have any questions or run into any issues! 

Helpful tip: Learn more about the types of images that can be used for Instagram Auto Post in this article in our knowledge base:
http://support.tailwindapp.com/publishing-for-instagram/what-types-of-images-can-i-use-with-tailwind-for-instagrams-auto-post-feature

Did this answer your question?