Resizing and compressing together
People searching for “resize image to 20 KB” usually have a form that rejects their photo for being too large. A phone photo is thousands of pixels wide; squeezing it to 20 KB without reducing the dimensions makes it blocky. This preset shrinks the image to at most 500 px on the longest side and compresses it to about 20 KB.
How it differs from the 20 KB compressor
The Compress image to 20 KB preset keeps up to 800 px for slightly larger photos. Here we go smaller, which suits signatures, thumbnails and small ID photos and usually gives a cleaner result at the same file size.
When the form fixes the dimensions
If the instructions specify pixel sizes – for example 200 × 230 px for a photo, 140 × 60 px for a signature or 600 × 600 px for a square ID photo – enter the larger of the two numbers as the max side, or use the Exam photo and signature resizer to set the exact width, height and KB range.
If you still see “Closest achievable”
Lower the max side to 300–400 px, crop away empty areas with Crop image, or brighten a dark photo so there is less noise to encode.
Common pixel sizes with a 20 KB limit
| What the form asks for | Pixels | KB range | Set max side to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo | 200 × 230 px | up to 20–50 KB | 230 |
| Signature | 140 × 60 px | 10–20 KB | 140 |
| Small photo | 100 × 120 px | up to 20 KB | 120 |
| Thumb / square | 300 × 300 px | up to 20 KB | 300 |
These are examples of pixel sizes seen on online application forms, job portals and government websites (several come from Indian exam forms); the form’s own instructions are the authority. When both width and height are fixed, use the Exam photo and signature resizer, which crops to the exact shape. If only a KB limit is given and no pixel size, Compress image to 20 KB keeps more pixels.
The DPI myth
Forms sometimes say “200 DPI”. DPI does not change the pixels or the KB – it is only a label used when printing. Match the pixel width and height, and the KB, and the DPI follows.