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Your Keynote presentation is 2 GB: the built-in command that shrinks it

Keynote keeps full-size photos, videos and cropped parts of images. Reduce File Size removes what is not needed. What it changes, and how to check first.

4 min read

You dropped a dozen phone photos and a video into a presentation, and it is now too big to email or even to open quickly. Keynote has a built-in fix, and Pages and Numbers have the same one.

What makes it big

  • Photos at full resolution. A 48 MP phone photo shown in a small box is still stored at full size.
  • Cropped images. Keynote keeps the parts you cropped away, in case you change your mind.
  • Videos, especially 4K ones.
  • Unused media left from slides you deleted.

Use Reduce File Size

  1. Save a copy first, with File, Duplicate.
  2. In the copy, choose File, Reduce File Size.
  3. Keynote shows how much it can save. Choose the options: reduce large images, remove trimmed video and audio, and choose a movie quality.
  4. Click Reduce.

The cropped parts of images are removed for good in the reduced version, which is why working on a copy is safer.

Check the result

ls -lh ~/Documents/*.key

Play through the presentation on the screen you will present on. Photos should still look sharp at full screen.

Prevent it next time

The Keynote app itself is covered in iWork apps taking up space. The PowerPoint version of this problem is in reduce PowerPoint file size.

Common questions

How do I make a Keynote file smaller?

Duplicate it first, then choose File, Reduce File Size in the copy. Keynote shrinks large images, removes trimmed media and can lower movie quality.

Does Reduce File Size in Keynote lose quality?

Images are resized to what the slides need, and cropped areas are removed. On screen it usually looks the same. Check the copy before deleting the original.

Why is my Keynote file so big?

Usually full resolution photos, videos, and the hidden cropped parts of images that Keynote keeps.

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