# Any way to reduce image stacks size?

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [March 28, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348 "2025-03-28T18:37:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JaredAmudeo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jaredamudeo/32/77474_2.png) [@JaredAmudeo](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/JaredAmudeo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/1 "2025-03-28T18:37:22Z")

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**Hello!** Recently, our research team has gained access to a benchtop micro-CT scanner, but the resulting files are very large, averaging over 10 GB. The output files are stacks of PNG and TIFF images.

I am aware of the **Crop Volume** module in **3D Slicer** , but I am looking for a method that can further reduce the file size.

Is there a way within **3D Slicer** or other software like **Photoshop** to reduce the size of these images? For example, by cropping out unwanted areas?

Thank you very much in advance!

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**Author:** ![jamesobutler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jamesobutler/32/7511_2.png) [@jamesobutler](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/jamesobutler)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/2 "2025-03-28T18:51:00Z")

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Try SlicerMorph’s tutorial about its ImageStacks Slicer module.

> **[Tutorials/ImageStacks at main · SlicerMorph/Tutorials](https://github.com/SlicerMorph/Tutorials/tree/main/ImageStacks)**
>
> SlicerMorph module tutorials. Contribute to SlicerMorph/Tutorials development by creating an account on GitHub.

> **[SlicerMorph/Docs/ImageStacks at master · SlicerMorph/SlicerMorph](https://github.com/SlicerMorph/SlicerMorph/tree/master/Docs/ImageStacks)**
>
> Extension to import microCT data and conduct 3D morphometrics in Slicer - SlicerMorph/SlicerMorph

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JaredAmudeo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jaredamudeo/32/77474_2.png) [@JaredAmudeo](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/JaredAmudeo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/3 "2025-03-28T19:01:21Z")

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I know about that extension, in fact I used it and I understand that it allows you to choose a full resolution and medium resolution quality, but the idea is precisely not to lower the resolution of the tomographies.

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**Author:** ![muratmaga](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/muratmaga/32/3622_2.png) [@muratmaga](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/muratmaga)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/4 "2025-03-28T19:10:49Z")

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> [@JaredAmudeo](#):
>
> but the idea is precisely not to lower the resolution of the tomographies.

So are you looking to compress them? if so, I think the only way you can reduce their file size is using an highly efficient compression, which probably give you another couple percent reduction.

In Memory consumption of the data has nothing to do with the file size. If you do not reduce the resolution of the images, the data will consume same amount of memory when loaded (regardless of the file size, which is dependent on the compression method used).

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**Author:** ![JaredAmudeo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jaredamudeo/32/77474_2.png) [@JaredAmudeo](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/JaredAmudeo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/5 "2025-03-28T21:40:06Z")

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I found a solution. Use ImageJ and Shrink the 2x2x2 in Transformation → bin

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**Author:** ![jamesobutler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jamesobutler/32/7511_2.png) [@jamesobutler](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/jamesobutler)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/6 "2025-03-28T22:19:27Z")

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That ImageJ solution is downsampling your volume to reduce the number of voxels and therefore memory usage. This would be like the SlicerMorph ImageStacks module’s option of “Quality” being set to “Half resolution”.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JaredAmudeo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/jaredamudeo/32/77474_2.png) [@JaredAmudeo](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/JaredAmudeo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/any-way-to-reduce-image-stacks-size/42348/7 "2025-03-28T22:38:21Z")

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Ohh, I get it now. I thought they were different things