How to get a photo under 100KB
Application forms, job sites and government portals often ask for a photo under 100KB, or another small size. A photo straight from a phone is usually a few megabytes: dozens of times too big. There are two ways to bring it down, and most photos need both.
Why phone photos are so big
Modern phone cameras take photos with millions of pixels and save them at high quality, so there is detail to spare for zooming and cropping. A form usually only needs a photo big enough to recognise a face or read a document.
The two ways to shrink a photo
- Lower the JPG quality. JPG lets you trade a little detail for a much smaller file. Small steps down are hard to see. Go too far and edges turn blocky.
- Make it smaller in pixels. Fewer pixels means less to store. A photo that fills a phone screen still looks fine at a fraction of its original width.
Getting all the way to 100KB usually needs some of each. The compressor lowers the quality first, and only shrinks the pixels if that is not enough, so you keep as much size as possible.
Use JPG, not PNG
PNG is made for graphics and screenshots. For photos, a PNG can be many times bigger than a JPG that looks the same. If a form accepts JPG, use JPG.
Check these before you upload
- KB can mean 1000 or 1024 bytes. Sites differ. Aiming just under the limit counted as 1000 bytes fits either way.
- Pixel dimensions. Some forms also ask for an exact width and height, such as a passport-style photo. The file size and the dimensions are separate rules, so check both.
- iPhone HEIC photos. Some forms and browsers do not accept HEIC. On the iPhone, Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible makes the camera save JPG instead.
- Hidden details. Photos can carry the location they were taken and the phone model. Re-saving the photo through the compressor leaves those out.
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