Compress an image to 20 KB
Drop your photo in. The target is already set to 20 KB. Your browser searches for the highest quality that still fits under it, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.
click to choose · paste from the clipboard · add a whole batch
Nothing here is uploaded. See how the page enforces it.
Who needs 20 KB
Online application forms are the reason this number exists. Indian competitive exam portals (SSC, UPSC, IBPS, RRB, NEET, JEE and most state commissions) cap the candidate photograph at 20 KB or 50 KB, and scanned signatures are often capped lower still. Visa and university portals in other countries use the same band.
What an image looks like at 20 KB
20 KB is a hard budget for a photograph. Expect visible softening and some blocking in flat areas such as a plain background. It will still read clearly as a passport-style headshot, which is all the form is checking.
Shrink the image first. A 400 px wide photo at 20 KB looks acceptable; a 3000 px photo squeezed to 20 KB looks like a fax. The width box below is pre-filled at 400 px for exactly this reason. Clear it if your form specifies its own pixel dimensions.
How the target is hit
Guessing a quality percentage and checking the result is the slow way to do this. Instead your browser encodes the image, measures the actual byte count, and narrows the quality range from both ends over seven passes, each one halving the remaining uncertainty. It stops at the highest quality whose output is still under 20 KB.
If even the lowest acceptable quality is still too heavy, it starts reducing the dimensions instead, because losing pixels is a better trade than reducing a photograph to mush. If it genuinely cannot reach 20 KB, the row says so rather than handing you a file that quietly missed the target.
Questions
+ Is the result exactly 20 KB?
It is at or just under 20,480 bytes, the largest file that still satisfies the limit. Landing on the number precisely would mean padding the file with junk, which no upload form wants.
+ Why does my exam form still reject the photo?
Almost always one of three things: the form wants a minimum size as well as a maximum (some ask for 10-20 KB, so a 6 KB file fails too), it wants JPEG specifically rather than PNG, or it wants set pixel dimensions such as 200x230. Set those in the boxes and run it again. The target in KB is honoured either way.
+ Are my images uploaded?
No. The whole thing runs in your browser through the Canvas API. Open devtools, watch the Network tab while you compress, and you will see no request carrying your file. The page keeps working with your connection switched off.
+ Can I do a whole batch at once?
Yes, and each file gets its own quality search. A simple graphic and a detailed photograph need very different settings to land on the same byte budget. There is no cap on how many, because there is no server to pay for it.
+ Does it work on a phone?
Yes, on iOS and Android. Photographs taken on the phone can be picked straight from the camera roll.