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Compress Excel Files

Shrink a workbook that's heavy with logos, product photos or screenshots, without touching a single cell.

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or drop files here

Accepts XLSX

Encrypted upload. Files are deleted automatically after 1 hour.

About Compress Excel

Compress Excel workbooks that have grown too large to email or upload, usually because of pictures: product catalogs with a photo in every row, reports with pasted screenshots, templates with a big logo on each sheet. Each picture is sized for how large it's shown on the sheet, at about 300, 200 or 144 pixels per inch for Light, Recommended and Extreme, so a product photo shown as a small thumbnail no longer keeps its camera resolution. Photos pasted in as PNG are saved as JPEG with the same look, while screenshots, charts and pictures with see-through parts stay PNG. Word documents swollen by photos get the same treatment in Compress Word.

We also remove parts Excel doesn't need to store, such as the saved calculation chain, which Excel rebuilds when it opens the file, a preview thumbnail and printer driver settings, then repack the file at the highest compression. Cells, formulas, charts and formatting are left exactly as they were. If the result wouldn't be smaller, you get the original back. Target size keeps the workbook under a size you choose, trying the levels in turn, and says so if it can only get close. Target size is a VIP feature, and free accounts can try it once a day.

How to use Compress Excel

  1. 1
    Upload the workbook

    Click Choose file or drop an XLSX. Save older XLS files as XLSX first.

  2. 2
    Choose the compression

    Recommended suits most files. Extreme makes pictures smallest, Light keeps them closest to the original, and Target size aims for the size you set.

  3. 3
    Click Compress Excel

    Pictures are resized and recompressed and the workbook is repacked on our server.

  4. 4
    Download and compare

    The result page shows the percentage saved and both sizes. The file keeps its name.

Why use Cubfile for this

  • Pictures sized as shown

    Each image keeps the pixels its size on the sheet needs, and pasted PNG photos become much smaller JPEGs.

  • Data left alone

    Values, formulas, charts, conditional formatting and sheet protection aren't changed.

  • Leftovers cleared

    The calculation chain, preview thumbnail and printer driver data are removed, and Excel recreates what it needs.

  • Never bigger

    If compression can't make the workbook smaller, the original file is returned unchanged.

FAQ

Compress Excel: questions and answers

How much can Compress Excel save?
That comes down to the pictures. A workbook with many photos, or photos pasted in as PNG, can shrink a lot, while one that's mostly numbers may lose only a little, because text and numbers are already stored compactly.
Does it change my data when I compress Excel files?
No. Cells, formulas, charts and formatting stay exactly as they are. Only the picture files inside the workbook and a few parts Excel regenerates on its own are changed.
Can it compress XLS or CSV files?
It works on XLSX, so save an XLS as XLSX in Excel first. A CSV is plain text without pictures; packing it with Zip Files is the better way to make it smaller.
Can I compress an Excel file for free?
Yes. Free accounts can compress workbooks up to 50 MB, 2 tasks a day, and visitors get 2 tasks in total. VIP handles files up to 1 GB with no daily limit and unlocks Target size, which free accounts can try once a day.
Is my workbook stored anywhere?
Only for one hour, after which it's deleted automatically along with the compressed copy. It's uploaded over HTTPS and processed in an isolated process.
Share Compress Excel with a friendIt runs in any browser, and they can try it without signing up.

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