The host site does shrink the photo file size for sharing on the web most are between 150k and 200k. You just need to load your photo and I have some big photos. The photo below I took in Vail, Colorado last summer original file size was 8.77mb and on photobucket it is 167k. Just upload, click on the image code (it automatically copies) and paste, easy. As far as I know the image will stay as long as you have it in photobucket.