Guide · Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Compress Word, Excel & PowerPoint files
To make an Office file smaller, add it to Crunchy and compress it on Balanced. Crunchy shrinks the pictures inside to the size they're actually shown at and repacks the file, on your own PC. You get a lighter copy in the same format, ready to edit or email.
01 / What Crunchy does
Why decks get big, and what Crunchy trims.
Big decks and documents are usually big because of their pictures, often full-resolution photos shown at a fraction of their size. That's what Crunchy goes after.
Pictures sized to the slide
Each picture is downsampled to the size it's drawn at: 220 ppi on Balanced, 150 ppi on Maximum. Crops and groups are taken into account, and a picture whose use can't be measured keeps its full size.
Photos saved as PNG become JPEG
A photo stored as PNG, BMP or TIFF takes far more space than it needs. On Balanced and Maximum, opaque photos like these become JPEG, with every link inside the file updated.
Embedded files too
Charts' data workbooks and documents embedded in the file get the same treatment, then the whole package is repacked tighter.
Authors and history removed
With Strip metadata on (the default), document properties such as authors and editing history are removed. Switch it off, or use the Archive preset, to keep them.
Supported Office formats
- Word
.docx .docm .dotx .odt - Excel
.xlsx .xlsm .ods - PowerPoint
.pptx .pptm .ppsx .odp
Older .doc, .xls and .ppt files aren't compressed (they're copied along unchanged); save them in the newer format first. Picture resizing works in the Office Open XML formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx and friends); OpenDocument files are recompressed and repacked.
02 / Pick a level
Which setting to use for Office files.
- Balanced (the default) for decks and documents you'll present or share on screen.
- Maximum when the file just has to be small: 150 ppi pictures and stronger photo compression.
- Light for files you'll print: visually lossless and no resizing.
Photo-heavy decks shrank by 60–90% when picture resizing arrived in v1.0.2. Real savings depend on your files; a document that's mostly text has little to lose.
Has to fit an email?
Pick the Email preset (every file under 20 MB) or switch on Target size and enter your own limit. If a file is still too big after the first pass, Crunchy tries stronger settings, at most five passes, and keeps the gentlest version that fits. Office pictures never drop below 96 ppi; if the goal is out of reach you get the smallest version, marked over target.
03 / How to
Shrink a deck or document in three steps.
Add the file
Drag it onto the Crunchy window, paste it with Ctrl+V, or right-click it in Explorer and choose Compress with Crunchy.
Choose how small
Keep Balanced, or pick Email or a target size. Choose separate files or one ZIP.
Compress
Press Compress and compare a picture before and after. Your original stays untouched unless you chose Replace originals.
crunchy --target 20MB "Pitch deck.pptx"crunchy --level maximum --zip decks.zip PresentationsFolders are processed with everything inside, keeping the same structure.
FAQ
Common questions.
More answers in the main FAQ.
Will Crunchy change the layout or text of my Word or PowerPoint file?
No. Crunchy rewrites the pictures and the way the file is packed, not your text or slides. Each picture is resized to the size it is drawn at, taking crops and groups into account, so it looks the same on the page; a picture whose use can't be measured keeps its full size.
Can I still edit a Word or PowerPoint file after Crunchy compresses it?
Yes. Crunchy saves the same file type you gave it, so a compressed .docx or .pptx opens and edits like any other in Word, PowerPoint or another Office app.
Does Crunchy work with OpenDocument files (.odt, .ods, .odp)?
Yes. Crunchy recompresses the pictures inside OpenDocument files and repacks them. Resizing pictures to the size they are displayed at works in Office Open XML files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx and friends), where that size is recorded.
Ready to crunch?
Free for Windows 10 & 11. No uploads, no account, no size limits.