Systems and methods are provided that tune a convolutional neural network (CNN) to increase both its accuracy and computational efficiency. In some examples, a computing device storing the CNN includes a CNN tuner that is a hardware and/or software component that is configured to execute a tuning process on the CNN. When executing according to this configuration, the CNN tuner iteratively processes the CNN layer by layer to compress and prune selected layers. In so doing, the CNN tuner identifies and removes links and neurons that are superfluous or detrimental to the accuracy of the CNN.