Resize a photo to 20 KB

Why forms ask for 20 KB

Online application forms store hundreds of thousands of photos, so they cap the size of each one. 20 KB is one of the most common limits on Indian exam and recruitment portals, usually with a minimum too, often 10 KB. The check is simple and strict: the portal looks at the number of bytes and refuses the file if it is one byte over.

A photo from a phone camera is usually 2 to 5 MB, a hundred times too big. Getting it under 20 KB without making it unrecognisable takes two things: the right pixel size, and the right JPEG quality for that size.

What the tool does

It saves your photo as a JPEG and measures the actual file. If it is over 20 KB, it lowers the quality and measures again, homing in on the best quality that still fits. That takes eight or nine tries and happens in a fraction of a second, all on your device.

If the form only says "under 20 KB" and nothing about pixels, leave Dimensions on Original. When even low quality is too big at full size, the tool shrinks the picture until it fits, so you always get a file that passes. If the form gives a size, such as 200 × 230 pixels or 3.5 × 4.5 cm, set it under Dimensions first: the crop box takes that shape, you frame the face, and the KB search works on that exact size.

The numbers behind it

20 KB is read as 20,000 bytes. Some portals count a kilobyte as 1,000 bytes and some as 1,024. Staying under 20,000 passes both.

A minimum is read as 1,024 bytes a KB. A 10 KB minimum becomes 10,240 bytes, again so the file passes either way.

The DPI is written into the file. When you give a size in centimetres, the tool works out the pixels at the DPI you choose (200 is common on exam forms) and writes that DPI into the JPEG header, so a portal that reads it sees the same number.

Getting a good result

Crop before you squeeze. A face that fills the frame survives compression far better than a small face in a big room. Use the crop box to frame head and shoulders.

Light matters more than resolution. A photo taken in daylight, facing a window, compresses cleanly. A dim photo is full of noise, and noise eats bytes.

Plain background, smaller file. A plain wall behind you takes almost no bytes; a busy room takes many. If the form wants a white or light background, White background does it on your device.

Check before you upload

If you already have a file and want to know whether it will pass, open Check a file. It reads the file's real format from its bytes, not its name, and shows its size in KB and pixels against your rules, each one marked pass or fail.

For exam-specific rules taken from the official notices, see the exam photo sizes pages, such as SSC CGL or SBI PO.