How to compress an image to a specific size (100 KB, 50 KB, 20 KB)

2026-07-01

Job portals, visa applications and government forms love to demand a photo "under 100 KB" — or 50 KB, or even 20 KB. Guessing quality settings until you land under the limit is painful. Here's how to hit an exact target file size in seconds, without uploading your photo anywhere.

Why forms set a KB limit

Upload forms cap file size to save storage and bandwidth. The catch: they measure kilobytes, not "quality", so you need a tool that targets a size, not just a quality slider.

Hit an exact target size

Open Compress Image to Size, drop your photo, type the maximum size you need (e.g. 100 KB), and it binary-searches the best JPEG quality — shrinking the dimensions too if it has to — to land at or under your target while keeping the most detail possible. Download the result and upload it to the form.

When you just want it smaller

If there's no strict limit and you only want a lighter file, use the Image Compressor with a quality slider, or the Image Resizer to cap the dimensions (a 4000px photo scaled to 1000px is dramatically smaller).

Tips

• JPEG is best for hitting tiny targets; PNG can't compress photos nearly as small.
• If the form wants a headshot, crop it first with the Image Cropper — fewer pixels means an easier target.
• Everything runs in your browser — your ID photo or document scan is never uploaded to a server.