How to Compress a Photo to 20 KB, 50 KB, 100 KB or 200 KB for Passport, Visa, Exam and Job Portals

How to compress a photo to a KB limit: the short answer

To compress a photo to 20 KB, 50 KB, 100 KB or 200 KB, first resize it to the pixel size the portal asks for, then save it as a JPG and lower the quality until the file is just under the limit. The pixel size does most of the work: on a real head-and-shoulders portrait photo, 350 × 467 pixels came to about 22 KB at JPG quality 75, and 630 × 810 pixels to about 52 KB. Then remove the hidden photo details, check the size, and upload.

This guide is for the moment a portal says “file size exceeds the limit”, or “file too small”. It lists the published limits for passport, visa, exam and job portals with the page each figure came from. One rule sits above all of them: the limit on the upload screen, or in this year’s notification, is the one that counts.

Why portals set limits in kilobytes

A recruitment board or passport office may receive files from hundreds of thousands of applicants in a few weeks, and each one is stored, backed up and opened again by the staff who process it. A cap in kilobytes keeps storage and traffic predictable, keeps pages usable on slow mobile connections, and suits older systems built when every record had a fixed amount of room. A minimum does the opposite job: a photo of a few kilobytes is usually too small or blurred to identify anyone, so boards such as IBPS and the UK Passport Office set a floor as well as a ceiling.

Kilobytes and pixels: why a 20 KB photo has to be small

A digital photo is a grid of pixels, tiny squares of colour; a 12-megapixel phone photo has about 12 million of them. A kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes, the way upload forms count. JPG, the format almost every portal asks for, saves space by discarding detail the eye is unlikely to miss, and its quality setting, from 1 to 100, decides how much. So two things set the size of a JPG: how many pixels it has, and the quality.

Quality alone cannot take a full-size phone photo to 20 KB. With downscaling switched off, a 12-megapixel phone photo in our tests could not go below 75 KB even at the lowest quality, and a 12.8-megapixel portrait asked for 20 KB stopped at 224 KB. That is why portals that want tiny files usually state a small pixel size too.

To show how the two interact, we cropped a real head-and-shoulders portrait photo (3,200 × 4,000 pixels) to the sizes portals ask for and saved each crop at four qualities with the MozJPEG encoder the compress tool uses. These are measured sizes.

Three lessons. Most passport sizes fit easily: Passport Seva’s 630 × 810 is 137 KB even at quality 92, so there is no reason to save it at a low quality. Minimums bite as often as maximums: the UK wants at least 50 KB, and 600 × 750 at quality 75 is only 46.1 KB. And the smallest sizes are hardest: IBPS’s 200 × 230 photo did not reach its 20 KB floor even at quality 92.

When a portal gives only a KB figure, the question runs the other way. We asked the compress tool to hit each limit from the full portrait, with “Allow a smaller pixel size to reach it” switched on.

For a portrait, then: about 350 × 450 pixels for 20 KB, 450 × 570 for 30 KB, and 1,100 × 1,400 for 100 KB. That is one photo; a plain, evenly lit background compresses further, while patterned walls or the grain of a dim room need more bytes. A phone photo of a landscape at 1,500 × 2,000 was 43 KB at quality 75, while the portrait at 1,600 × 2,000 was 217 KB at the same setting.

Photo and signature limits by portal

Each figure was read on the official page named in the row on 30 September 2026, unless the row says otherwise. Where a page could not be opened or gave no digital rule, we say so rather than repeat other websites. Pixel sizes marked “preferred” are suggestions; the KB ranges are what the form enforces. Web addresses follow the tables.

Passports and visas

Exam and recruitment portals

Job sites

• State Department (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/photos.html)
• GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/photos-for-passports/rules-for-digital-photos)
• Passport Seva (https://assets.ctfassets.net/xxg4p8gt3sg6/65N7mZz0hfj57DM1VlnLA2/284bfc9bd711eda8a8564dad5019cc70/PASSPORT_SEVA_PHOTO_UPLOAD_INSTUCTIONS.pdf)
• DGIP (https://www.dgip.gov.pk/eServices/online-passport.php)
• Pakistan Online Visa System (https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/photograph-guide/) and its upload page (https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/how-to-upload-documents/)
• IRCC citizenship (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/citizenship-application-photograph-specifications/grant-online.html)
• Canadian passport (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/photos.html)
• VFS Global, Belgium in Iran (https://www.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/belgium/iran/english/pdf/photo-specification.pdf)
• UAE ICP (https://icp.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/icao_english.pdf)
• SSC (https://ssc.gov.in/api/attachment/uploads/masterData/NoticeBoards/Notice_of_adv_cgl_2025.pdf)
• UPSC (https://upsconline.nic.in/caf/assets/PDF/instruction-photo-signature-upload-upsc.pdf)
• IBPS (https://www.ibps.in/wp-content/uploads/CRP-RRBs-XV-notification.pdf)
• FPSC (https://cp.fpsc.gov.pk/gr_one/Guidelines_for_Online_Application_Submission_FPSC_updated_09-09-2025.pdf)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a549049) and Indeed (https://www.indeed.com/help/job-seekers/articles/27517857907853-uploading-a-profile-photo)

What the tables do not show

• United States. The 600 × 600 JPEG of 240 KB or less is as published on the State Department’s photo requirements page for the Diversity Visa entry; the live page sits behind a bot check, so we read its archived copy. We could not open the online passport renewal page at all, so follow the rule shown at its upload step.
• United Kingdom. GOV.UK asks for a photo “at least 50KB and no more than 10MB”, in colour, on a plain light-coloured background and “unaltered by computer software”. A tight 600 × 750 crop can fall under 50 KB, so keep more pixels (the Image Resizer’s UK preset makes 900 × 1,125) or a higher quality.
• Passport Seva. The PDF says “The image size must be exactly 630 x 810 pixels and less than 250 KB”, the face about 80% of the photo, from a source photo larger than 2,500 × 2,500, with up to 12 upload attempts. The 10 KB minimum many websites add is not in it.
• SSC. The CGL 2026 notice has no photo file size, because candidates “are required to capture their live photo through webcam/mobile device and upload”. The “photo 20–50 KB” rule that circulates for SSC is not in this notice; only the signature is a file.
• UPSC. An older UPSC FAQ says 20–300 KB; the current instructions say “between 20KB and 200KB”, face at least 75%, plain white background. A file of 20–200 KB satisfies both.
• IBPS. The system will not let a candidate move forward until the files meet the rules, and there is a separate live photo step. Other IBPS exams publish their own notification.
• Pakistan. DGIP states no minimum and no 20 KB rule, only “350/467 Pixels in JPEG/JPG format and not more than 3MB”, colour, white background. The visa photo guide says “up to a maximum of 350KB”, while its general upload page allows 500 KB for other documents in JPEG, JPG, PNG or PDF; use 350 KB for the photo. For FPSC’s 30 KB, a 350 × 467 portrait at quality 75 (about 22 KB) fits.
• Canada. Files here are large: the citizenship photo should be “approximately 240 kB” with minimal compression, and the passport photo needs chin-to-crown “between 45% and 50% of the photo’s height”, untouched by filters. Compressing hard is more likely to cause a rejection than prevent one.
• Schengen and the UAE. We found no EU-wide digital rule; VFS publishes rules per country and centre, so open the page for yours. The ICP gives print rules only (35–40 mm wide, face 70–80%, no more than six months old); follow the upload screen.
• Job sites. LinkedIn’s 400 × 400 is the minimum, not a recommendation; 800 pixels or more looks sharper. Indeed takes profile photos only in its mobile app, and says employers do not see them.

The method, in the right order

Most failed attempts squeeze the quality of a full-size photo until it looks like a mosaic. Work in this order instead.

Step 1: the pixel size

If the portal states pixels, use exactly those. In the compress tool’s “Upload limits for passports, visas, exams and jobs” table, the Use button on a row with an exact size, such as Passport Seva or DGIP, sets the pixels, the KB limit, any minimum and JPG at once. To choose which part of the photo is kept, crop first in the Image Resizer with Exact size (crops), clicking on the face in the Crop & focus tab. Cropping matters: a phone photo forced into a different shape without it gives a squashed face. If the portal gives only KB, use the second table above as a starting point.

Step 2: the quality

Choose “To a size in KB” and a quick size, or type the figure into “Maximum file size (KB)”. The tool tries JPG qualities from 92 down to 25 for the highest one under the limit, shrinks the pixels if even the lowest is too big, and finally fine-tunes the colour detail to close the last few kilobytes. In 76 test runs every result was at or under the limit, and 54 of the 55 that needed compressing landed within 3 KB of it.

We cannot tell how every portal counts a kilobyte, so if a 49.9 KB file is refused at 50 KB, set the limit a couple of KB lower; aim a little above minimums too. A limit that cannot be reached is labelled “Closest achievable” with the reason, and a result under a portal’s minimum even at top quality is marked “Below the portal minimum”. For IBPS’s 200 × 230 photo, keep the shape and add pixels: 240 × 276 has 44% more pixels, and file size grows roughly with pixel count.

Step 3: the format

JPG and JPEG are the same format; MDN’s image format guide lists both extensions for it (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Formats/Image_types). Renaming a HEIC or PNG file to .jpg does not convert it, and strict portals notice. The compress tool turns HEIC into JPG itself; the Image Converter handles other pairs, and PDF vs JPG vs PNG explains when each suits. Newer formats are smaller (our portrait was 103 KB as AVIF against 217 KB as JPG at the same measured fidelity), but a portal that says JPG will refuse them. PNG is far larger for photos: a 12.8-megapixel photo in our HEIC tests was 8.1 MB as PNG against 1.41 MB as JPG.

Step 4: the hidden photo details

Phone photos carry EXIF data: date, phone model and often the GPS location, which for a photo taken at home is your address. “Keep photo details (EXIF)” is off by default, so all of it is removed. When it re-encodes a photo, which it always does in KB mode, the tool also turns the pixels upright, so a photo stored sideways does not appear on its side in a portal. Removing the details can save a few kilobytes too.

Step 5: the check

In the compare view, look at the face at 100% and 200%. Some softness is normal at small sizes; blocky squares on cheeks and background, or halos around hair and glasses, mean the limit is too tight for the pixels, so reduce the pixels a little rather than the quality. Confirm the KB and pixels in the file list, and rename if needed: files come out as, for example, photo-compressed.jpg, and UPSC asks for “a photo named photo”.

Signature scans to 10–20 KB

A clean signature is mostly blank paper, which costs almost nothing to store, so the usual problem with a 10–20 KB range is staying above 10 KB, not getting under 20. What makes signature files large is the paper, not the ink: shadows, texture, a blue camera tint. Remove those and the size is easy to control.

• Sign in dark ink on plain white paper, at your normal size. IBPS asks for black ink; Passport Seva allows black or blue.
• Photograph it flat in daylight without your shadow, or scan it; IBPS asks scanners to use at least 200 dpi.
• Crop tight. Passport Seva wants the signature only; UPSC wants three signatures one below the other in one image.
• Make it clean black on white. Greyscale removes the tint and a threshold, which makes each pixel either ink or paper, removes texture. The Signature Maker cleans up a photographed signature and removes the paper.
• Save as JPG on white if the portal asks for JPG; a transparent PNG takes the background colour you choose when saved as JPG.
• Compress with “To a size in KB”, or the IBPS, SSC, UPSC or Passport Seva signature row in the portal table.

PNG against JPG is a real trade-off. A black-and-white signature as PNG is lossless, small and razor sharp; as a low-quality JPG it gains grey speckles around the strokes, because JPG is designed for smooth photographs. Most exam portals accept only JPG, so use a high quality. If the file falls under the minimum, as a clean 140 × 60 IBPS signature easily can, keep the shape and add pixels or quality; do not pad it with a grey background. For SSC, which gives centimetres rather than pixels, a crop two to three times as wide as it is tall and a few hundred pixels across suits both of its descriptions.

IBPS’s thumb impression (240 × 240 at 200 DPI) and declaration (800 × 400 at 200 DPI) work the same way. The figures agree with the printed sizes IBPS gives: 240 pixels at 200 per inch is 1.2 inches, about 3 cm, and 800 pixels is 4 inches, about 10 cm. Resize to the pixels in the Image Resizer, set the DPI tag to 200 under Custom, then compress to the range.

Rejections that have nothing to do with size

• Background. GOV.UK asks for “plain light-coloured”; IBPS light, preferably white; DGIP, the Pakistan visa system and UPSC white. A patterned wall or a shadow behind the head is a common rejection, and it makes the file larger.
• Face size. Passport Seva about 80% of the photo, UPSC at least 75%, NADRA’s visa guide, the VFS example and the UAE ICP 70–80%, Canada’s passport chin-to-crown 45–50% of the height.
• Aspect ratio. Square for the US, 7:9 for Passport Seva’s 630 × 810, 3:4 in the VFS example. Typing a width and height without cropping stretches the face.
• DPI text. A DPI figure is a label that sets the printed size; it does not change pixels, sharpness or KB. If a portal checks it, set it in the Image Resizer. Image size explained: pixels and DPI covers why.
• Edited photos. GOV.UK wants a photo “unaltered by computer software” and Canada the untouched original. Filters and background replacement risk rejection; cropping, resizing and compression are expected.
• Age and live match. The Pakistan visa guide, the VFS example and the ICP want a photo no more than six months old. UPSC, IBPS and SSC capture a live photo, and UPSC matches it against the upload.
• Wrong format or name: a renamed HEIC, a PDF where an image was asked for, or an unexpected file name.

How to check a file’s size on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

Windows

Right-click the photo in File Explorer and choose Properties. The General tab shows Size, with the exact bytes in brackets; ignore “Size on disk”. The Details tab shows the Dimensions in pixels and the resolution, the DPI label.

Mac

Select the file in the Finder and choose File, Get Info, or press Command-I; Apple says item info “can include file size, movie length, image dimensions, and more” (https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/get-file-folder-and-disk-information-on-mac-mchlp1774/mac). In Preview, the Inspector (Tools, Show Inspector) shows the same (https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/view-information-about-pdfs-and-images-prvw9c94f0a4/mac). The Finder counts a kilobyte as 1,000 bytes, so a 51,200-byte file, 50 KB to most portals, shows as 51 KB; near a limit, check the exact bytes.

iPhone and iPad

In Photos, open the photo and swipe up or tap the info button. We could not read the body of Apple’s help page for this panel, so we cannot confirm which iOS versions list the file size there. A dependable route is Share, Save to Files, then touch and hold the file in Files and choose Get Info. An iPhone photo is often HEIC, so its size will differ once it is a JPG.

Android

In Google Photos, open the photo and swipe up; Google’s help says you “can find backup details under ‘Details’” (https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791). That figure can describe the backup copy, so for an exact size check the file you will upload, in your phone’s gallery or file manager under Details or Info.

When the portal wants a document, not a photo

Certificates and ID scans usually go up as PDF with their own limits: IBPS wants the SSC or 10th certificate as an A4 PDF “not exceeding 500 KB”, and IRCC allows 4 MB per file in its secure account and 5 MB in the IRCC Portal (https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1123&top=23). JPG to PDF makes one PDF from photographed pages and Compress PDF shrinks it; How to reduce PDF file size and How to send a large PDF cover the rest.

An ID photo, a signature and a passport scan are the files you would least like to leave on a stranger’s server, and many online converters upload your file to one. The image tools here work inside your browser tab: your photos are never uploaded. Are online PDF converters safe? shows how to check any tool, and the Files & PDFs guides cover the rest of the paperwork.

Frequently asked questions