Will a 20 KB image still be readable?

For a passport-style photo or a scanned signature at roughly 300–600 px wide, yes: 20 KB is usually enough. For a full-scene photo at 2,000 px wide, 20 KB will visibly soften detail, so the tool shrinks the dimensions rather than destroying quality entirely.

Why do exam forms ask for 20 KB or 50 KB images?

Most Indian government and exam portals (SSC, UPSC, IBPS, railway and state boards) cap the photo at 20–50 KB and the signature at 10–20 KB so that millions of uploads stay within storage limits. They also usually require JPG, which is what this tool outputs by default.

Are my images uploaded to a server?

No. Compression runs entirely in your browser with the Canvas API. Your photo never leaves your device and nothing is stored.

Can I compress a PNG to 20 KB?

Yes — upload a PNG and it is re-encoded as JPG (or WebP if you choose), which is the only reliable way to reach 20 KB for a photographic image. Transparent areas are filled with white.

What if the file is still above 20 KB?

That only happens with very large or very detailed images at the lowest quality setting. Reduce the maximum width — 600 px is plenty for a form photo — and run it again.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Pick or capture a photo on Android or iOS, compress it and save the result straight to your device — no app install needed.

Compress image to 20 KB

Drop in a JPG or PNG and get it back at 20 KB or less — the exact size most exam and government upload forms allow. Quality is tuned automatically, and the photo is only shrunk in pixels if the target cannot be met any other way. Everything happens in your browser: nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored.

Drop your photo here

JPG, PNG or WebP — up to any size

Target file size

Custom target (KB)

Max width (px, 0 = keep)

Output format

Processed on your device — no upload, no account, no watermark.

Result

Choose an image and the compressed 20 KB version appears here with its exact final size.

How to compress an image to 20 KB

1. Upload the JPG or PNG you need to shrink.
2. Leave the target at 20 KB, or tap 50, 100 or 200 KB if your form allows more.
3. If the photo is a full-size camera shot, set a max width of 600–800 px first.
4. Check the compressed size shown next to the original, then download the JPG.

The tool binary-searches JPEG quality between 5% and 92% to find the largest quality that still fits your limit, so you never lose more detail than the target actually requires.

What size should the photo be?

Typical upload limits for exam and government forms
Upload	Typical limit	Good width
Signature scan	10–20 KB	300 px
Passport photo (exam form)	20–50 KB	413 px
Photo ID / Aadhaar copy	50–100 KB	800 px
Certificate or marksheet	100–200 KB	1200 px
Web page image	100–200 KB	1600 px

Why JPG, not PNG

PNG is lossless, so a photographic PNG almost never gets under 20 KB without becoming unusable. JPG throws away detail the eye barely notices and reaches small sizes cleanly, which is why nearly every application portal asks for it. WebP is smaller still at the same quality, but many government portals reject it — keep JPG unless you are uploading to a website.

Keeping the photo sharp at 20 KB

File size grows with pixel count, so cropping tightly to the face and setting a max width of 413–600 px does far more good than lowering quality. A 600 px portrait at 60% quality typically lands at 18–25 KB and still looks clean; the same photo at 3,000 px would need single-digit quality to fit and would look blocky.

Frequently asked questions

Upload the photo above and the tool automatically lowers JPEG quality — and, if needed, the pixel dimensions — until the file lands at or under 20 KB. You see the exact final size before downloading, so there is no guesswork.