Optimizing photos on Xiaomi: how to compress, crop and improve pictures on your phone

Have you ever encountered a situation where photos on your Xiaomi take up too much space and the quality leaves much to be desired? Or maybe you wanted to send a picture to the messenger, but it “weighs” hundreds of megabytes, and the service does not accept it? Optimizing photos on your smartphone is not only a way to save space in memory, but also a chance to improve the visual characteristics of the pictures before publishing or sending.

In this article, we’ll break down what it means to “optimize photos” on Xiaomi phones (including Redmi models, POCO and Mi), which tools are provided in the firmware MIUI, You'll learn how to reduce the weight of photos without losing quality, cut down on unnecessary details, adjust automatic optimization, and even improve color with built-in features, and why some optimizations can hurt your shots and how to avoid it.

What does it mean to “optimize photos” on Xiaomi?

The term “photo optimization” is often used in different contexts, but on Xiaomi phones it usually implies:

• 📉 Compression – Reducing file size (in megabytes) without critical quality loss.
• ✂️ Pruning and framing – removing excess areas of the shot to improve the composition.
• 🎨 Color and exposure correction – brightness, contrast, saturation setting.
• 🔍 Improved details – sharpening, removing noise (e.g. through the use of AI-algorithms).
• 📁 Organization of files - renaming, sorting, removing duplicates.

It's important to understand that optimization doesn't always equal improvement, like aggressive compression can lead to artifacts (blurred areas or "squares" in a photo), and excessive color correction to unnatural shades. Xiaomi phones have automatic tools (like the ones in the box). AI-optimization in the gallery), and manual settings in the Camera or Google Photos app.

Built-in tools MIUI optimizing photos

Firmware MIUI (even in the latest versions MIUI 14/15) It offers a number of ways to optimize your images right in standard applications:

1. Xiaomi Gallery: Compression and Pruning

The Gallery app (or Photos on some models) allows you to quickly reduce the size of the photo and crop it:

1. Open the photo in the gallery.
2. Click Edit (pencil icon).
3. Select Pruning (✂️) Change the proportions or settings (🔧) color-correction.
4. To compress, click Export and select Compress Image (not available on all models).

On Xiaomi models 12/13 Redmi Note 11/12 gallery has a function AI-improvement (AI Enhance, which automatically adjusts exposure and colors, but it doesn't work perfectly, sometimes overloading with saturation.

2. Camera settings: On-the-fly optimization

To get the photos initially optimized, set the settings in the Camera app:

• 📸 Resolution: Go to Camera Settings → Photo resolution and choose the balance between quality and file size. For example, 12 MP instead of 48 MP will reduce the weight of the images by 2-3 times.
• 🔄 File format: HEIF (or HEIC) takes up less space than JPEG, But not all devices support it.
• 🤖 AI-camera: turn on AI-scene to automatically optimize shooting settings (but turn off if colors seem unnatural).

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If you often share photos in messengers, set the settings of the camera settings Quality to exchange for Average – this will automatically compress the pictures when sending.

3. function "Lite Mode" (Light Gallery)

On budget models (Redmi) 9A, POCO M3) There's a Light Gallery mode that makes it easier to use photos and automatically optimizes their storage:

Settings → Applications → Gallery → Enable easy mode

In this mode, photos are compressed when imported, and unnecessary duplicates are deleted automatically.

How to compress photos without losing quality

Compression is the most common type of optimization, but not all methods are equally useful.

1.Integrated compression in MIUI

On some models (e.g. Xiaomi) 11T Redmi Note 10 Pro is available in the gallery with the option to compress and send:

• Open the photo. → Share. → Squeeze and send.
• Choose the compression ratio: Small size (strong compression) or Medium size (quality and weight balance).

This method reduces the weight of a file by 50-80% without visible artifacts.

Compression applications

If built-in tools are not enough, install third-party utilities:

Important: When compressed in third-party applications, always check the result on another device - some utilities spoil the color profile, and the photos look faded on an iPhone or PC.

3. Online services

If you do not want to install programs, use the following web services:

• 🌐 TinyJPG - compresses JPEG quality-free.
• 🌐 Squoosh (from Google) – supports WEBP and AVIF.

Warning: Don’t upload sensitive photos to online services – they may save files on their servers.

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The optimal balance for compression is a weight reduction of 60-70%, and more aggressive compression leads to noticeable artifacts, especially in photographs with small details (such as text or grass).

Pruning and framing: how to change the composition correctly

Trimming helps remove the extra elements from the photo, but if you do it wrong, you can ruin the picture.

1. Preservation of proportions

When trimming in the Xiaomi gallery, you can choose standard proportions:

• 📱 1:1 for Instagram or avatars.
• 🖼️ 16:9 – for wide landscapes.
• 📄 4:3 – Classic format for printing.

To avoid distorting the perspective, use the rule of thirds grid (included in the trimming settings).

2. Correction of perspective

On models with an ultra-wide lens (for example, Xiaomi 13 Ultra), there are often distortions around the edges.

1. Open the photo in the gallery → Edit → Perspective.
2. Pull corners to straighten lines (like building walls).

3. Automatic pruning through AI

Function AI-framing (available on Xiaomi) 12S Ultra and newer) itself offers the best composition, but sometimes cuts down on important details:

Camera settings → Additional → AI-framework → Turn off

Improving photo quality: color, sharpness, noise

Even good pictures can be made better with corrections, and on Xiaomi, this is done through an embedded editor or third-party apps.

1. Gallery correction MIUI

Open the photo. → Edit → Settings are available here:

• 🌈 Saturation – increase for bright colors (but not higher) +30, otherwise there will be unrealistic shades).
• ☀️ Exposure – raise if the photo is too dark.
• 🔍 Sharpness - add +10-15 for clarity (more noise will appear).
• 🌫️ Removing fog is good for landscapes.

2. Applications for Advanced Processing

For more optimization, use:

• 📱 Snapseed (from Google) – professional tools (curves, selective correction).
• 🎨 Lightroom Mobile Presets and Accurate White Balance Customization.
• 🤖 Remini – Improves blurry photos with the help of AI (but it might add artifacts).

Increase brightness (if the picture is dark)|Lower contrast (if the shadows are too hard)|Add sharpness (+10–15)|Remove the noise (Denise tool in Snapseed)|Save a copy of the original before editing-->

3. AI-real-time improvement

The flagships (Xiaomi 13 Pro, Mix Fold 3) have a mode AI-It's a camera that improves the image right while you're shooting:

• ✅ Useful for portraits (blurring background, improves skin).
• ❌ Destroys landscapes (excessively saturates green and blue).

To disable:

Camera settings → AI- Camera → Select scenes manually

Automatic optimization: pros and cons

Many Xiaomi users are turning on automatic photo optimization without understanding how it works.

1. Optimization in Google Photos

If you use Google Photos to back up, turn on High Quality (not Original):

• 🔹 Photos are compressed to 16 MP (enough for most tasks).
• 🔹 Video - up 1080p.
• 🔹 Free storage (unlike the originals).

Minus: with strong compression, small details are lost (for example, text in the photo).

2. function "Memory optimization" in MIUI

In memory settings (Settings) → Memory. → Optimization) There is a garbage cleaning option that removes:

• 🗑️ Cash miniature photo.
• 📁 Duplicate images.
• 🖼️ Blurred or unsuccessful photos (by algorithm) MIUI).

⚠️ Note: Sometimes this feature deletes important pictures if they look like duplicates. Before cleaning, check the Recently Deleted folder in the gallery.

3. Compression when sending in messengers

Apps like WhatsApp or Telegram automatically compress photos to send the original:

• On WhatsApp: Choose a photo → Click Send as a document.
• Telegram: Press the photo → Send without compression.

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Automatic optimization is convenient, but always check the results. For example, Google Photos can compress night shots too aggressively, adding noise.

Optimization Mistakes: What Not to Do

Some actions lead to irretrievable loss of quality, and this is something to avoid:

1. Multiple compression

Every recompression JPEG It's a quality problem:

• 📉 You squeezed the photo in the gallery. → quality dropped 20%.
• 📉 Then I squeezed it again in Photo Compress. → still −30%.
• 🚫 Result: Artifacts and blur.

⚠️ Warning: Always work with a copy of the original! in the Xiaomi gallery, when editing, click Save a copy, not Save a Save.

2. Use of formats without support

Format HEIC (or HEIF) It takes up less space, but:

• 🖥️ Not all PCs and websites support it.
• 📱 For conversion to JPEG Lost up to 15% of quality.

If you share photos often, it is better to take them in the first place. JPEG:

Camera settings → Photo format → JPEG

3. Excessive processing

Avoid:

• 🎨 Too high saturation (colors become unnatural).
• 🔍 Excessive sharpness (there is a “noise sand»).
• ☀️ Strong exposure increase (details in light areas are lost).

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo optimization on Xiaomi