How-to
How to Compress a JPEG to 100KB, 200KB or 20KB
Online forms often limit photos to 100KB, 50KB or 20KB. Here's how to hit an exact file size without your photo turning into a blurry mess.
· 2 min read · ConvertPixels Team
Job portals, college applications, government forms and visa sites often accept photos only under 100KB, 50KB or even 20KB. A phone photo is usually 2-5MB, so it has to shrink by 95% or more. Done right, it still looks good.
The quick way
- Open Compress Image.
- Add your JPEG (PNG, HEIC and WebP work too).
- Type your limit - for example 100 - in the Target size (KB) box.
- Press Compress and download.
The compressor searches for the highest quality that fits under your target.
Get a sharper result: resize first
File size depends on two things: how many pixels there are, and how much detail each one keeps. A 12-megapixel photo squeezed into 100KB has almost no detail left per pixel. Fewer pixels means each one can keep more.
- Crop away everything the form doesn't need with Crop.
- Resize with Resize to the size the form asks for. If it doesn't say, these work well:
| Target size | Resize to (width) |
|---|---|
| 20KB | 400-500 px |
| 50KB | 600-800 px |
| 100KB | 1000-1200 px |
| 200KB+ | 1500-2000 px |
- Then compress to the target size.
Common form requirements
Many US forms ask for more than a size limit:
- Passport and visa photos: square, 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 pixels, JPEG, plain white or off-white background.
- Signatures: a cropped scan, often under 30KB - crop tightly before compressing.
- ID scans: JPEG or PDF, readable text. For multi-page documents, combine them with Image to PDF.
Always check the exact numbers on the form itself.
Use JPEG for photos
At the same file size, JPEG keeps far more detail in photos than PNG. If a form accepts JPEG, use it. If your file is a HEIC from an iPhone, converting and compressing happen in one step - just add it to Compress Image and choose JPG as the output.
FAQ