Compress an image to 50 KB

50 KB is the most common photo limit on application forms — competitive exams, job portals, licence applications and identity document renewals nearly all land on it. It's small enough to be awkward and large enough that a correctly sized photo still looks sharp, which is probably why it became the default.

The usual routine is to open an editor, save at 80% quality, find the file is 180 KB, save at 40%, check again, and repeat. That's the loop this page automates: enter 50, and the encoder works down until the file fits, then reports the quality it used.

Results at 50 KB depend far more on dimensions than on the compression setting. A photo straight from a phone is often 3000 pixels wide, and forcing that into 50 KB ruins it. Most forms want something near 200 × 230 pixels — resize to that first and 50 KB is plenty for a clear, sharp photo.

One detail that catches people out: plenty of portals accept JPG only, even when the instructions just say "image". A PNG or a screenshot should be converted before uploading, and PNG is the wrong format for a photo anyway — it compresses photographs far less efficiently than JPG at the same visual quality.

Exam and recruitment portals often ask for the photo and the signature separately: the photo somewhere between 20 and 50 KB, the signature between 10 and 20 KB, usually both as JPG. The exact numbers are in the notification or on the upload screen and differ between forms, so check them before you start.

Passing the size check isn't the end of it, because a person or an automated check may still look at the photo. Use a recent picture on a plain, light background, with the face centred and clearly visible. Compressing can't fix a busy background or a shadow across the face, so get those right before you shrink the file.