private BufferedImage resize(BufferedImage source, int width, int height, Map<Key, Object> hints) {
		int type = source.getType() == 0? BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB : source.getType();
		BufferedImage resizedImage = new BufferedImage(width, height, type);
		Graphics2D graphics = resizedImage.createGraphics();
		try {		
			//graphics.setComposite(AlphaComposite.Src);
			graphics.setRenderingHints(hints);
			graphics.drawImage(source, 0, 0, width, height, null);
		} finally {
			graphics.dispose();
		}
		return resizedImage;
	}

	// последовательное уменьшение изображения в 2 раза
	private BufferedImage multiStepRescale(BufferedImage image, int maxDim, Map<Key, Object> hints) throws IOException {
		// Get width & height
		int w = image.getWidth(), h = image.getHeight();
		int srcDim = Math.max(w, h), currDim = maxDim;
		// вычисление первого размера для уменьшения 
		for (int test=maxDim; test<srcDim; test = test<<1) {
			if (test<srcDim) currDim = test;
		}
		while (currDim>=maxDim) {
			double scale = (double)currDim/(double)srcDim;
			w = (int)((double)w*scale);
			h = (int)((double)h*scale);
			image = resize(image, w, h, hints);
			srcDim = Math.max(w, h);
			currDim = currDim >> 1;
		}
		return image;
	}
...
		// и вызов всего этого
		Map<Key, Object> hints = new HashMap<Key, Object>();
		hints.put(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
		hints.put(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);
		hints.put(RenderingHints.KEY_INTERPOLATION, RenderingHints.VALUE_INTERPOLATION_BILINEAR);
		BufferedImage scaled = multiStepRescale(source, maxDim, hints);