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Compress Excel workbooks

Shrink XLSX files with pictures, and learn the Excel steps that slim down data-heavy workbooks.

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How to compress Excel (XLSX) files

  1. Add your files

    Drop files on the box, paste them or choose them from your device. Nothing is uploaded.

  2. Check the settings

    The default preset suits most files. Change quality, size or format if you need a smaller file.

  3. Download the result

    Save each file or all of them as one ZIP. If a file cannot get smaller, you keep the original.

How an XLSX workbook is built

Excel has saved workbooks as XLSX since Excel 2007. Like DOCX, the file is a ZIP archive of XML parts: one file per worksheet under xl/worksheets, a shared string table that stores each distinct text value once, style definitions, defined names, charts, and a xl/media folder for pictures. A modern worksheet can hold 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, and that capacity is part of why workbooks can grow huge without anyone noticing.

What a large workbook contains varies more than with any other office format. Some are big because of data, some because of formatting, and some because of a pasted logo that turned out to be a 15-megapixel photo.

The usual causes of a heavy XLSX

  • Pictures and screenshots in xl/media: logos, product photos in a price list, screenshots in a test report.
  • Pivot caches. Each pivot table can store a full copy of its source data inside the file so it can refresh without the original.
  • A "used range" much bigger than the data. Formatting applied to whole columns or a stray value in row 900,000 makes Excel store and process far more cells than you see. Press Ctrl+End to see where Excel thinks the sheet ends.
  • Thousands of styles copied in from other workbooks, conditional formatting rules duplicated by copy and paste, and unused named ranges.
  • Raw data exports with hundreds of thousands of rows, which no compressor can make small without deleting data.

What the Excel compressor changes

The tool recompresses the pictures in xl/media (downscaling them to the chosen resolution for their size on the sheet and re-encoding JPEGs at the quality you set), removes the thumbnail by default, and packs the workbook again with maximum ZIP compression. Cell values, formulas, formatting, charts, pivot tables and macros in .xlsm files are left exactly as they are. OpenDocument spreadsheets (.ods) from LibreOffice Calc are handled the same way.

That means the result depends on what your workbook contains. A price list with product photos may shrink to a fraction; a workbook that is large because of data or pivot caches will change little, and the tool tells you when the file is already as small as it can make it.

Steps in Excel that shrink data-heavy workbooks

  1. Reset the used range. Delete the empty rows and columns below and to the right of your data (select them, right-click, Delete), then save.
  2. Drop pivot caches you do not need. In PivotTable Options › Data, clear "Save source data with file". The pivot refreshes from the source when the file is opened.
  3. Clean up formatting. Remove conditional formatting rules on unused ranges and avoid formatting entire columns.
  4. Save as Excel Binary Workbook (.xlsb). For very large data, XLSB is often noticeably smaller and opens faster in Excel, while keeping all features. Other programs support it less well, so keep XLSX for sharing.

If the recipient only needs to read the figures, a PDF export of the relevant sheets or a CSV of the data is far smaller than any workbook.

Excel questions

Will my formulas still work?

Yes. The tool does not touch cell contents, formulas or references. Only pictures and the ZIP packing change.

Why is my Excel file large when it has hardly any data?

Look for pictures, formatting applied to entire columns, many styles, and a used range far beyond your data. Ctrl+End shows the last cell Excel stores.

Is XLSB smaller than XLSX?

For data-heavy workbooks it usually is, because it stores cells in binary instead of XML. It is a modern format with the same capacity, not the old XLS.

Can I compress a password-protected workbook?

A workbook encrypted with a password to open is not a ZIP archive anymore, so it cannot be compressed. Sheet protection without an opening password is fine.

What about old .xls files?

They use the binary format of Excel 97–2003. See the XLS page for what is possible with them.

More document tools

Use the PowerPoint compressor for presentations and the document compressor for any office file. Read how it works to learn why workbooks with confidential figures can be compressed here safely.