The form rejected your photo or signature
Four things cause almost all of it, and the error message names none of them. Work down the list, then fix the file on this page without uploading it anywhere.
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The usual signature band. SSC, IBPS and most state commissions.
Nothing here is uploaded. See how the page enforces it.
One: the file is under the minimum, not over the maximum
This is the cause people never guess, and on signature uploads it is the most common one by a distance. Forms publish a range, "10 KB to 20 KB", and enforce both ends. A signature is dark strokes on white paper, the easiest thing JPEG has to encode, so an ordinary scan comes out at four or five kilobytes. The portal rejects it for being too small and reports only that the file is invalid.
Every mainstream resizing tool makes this worse, because they are all built to make files smaller and they hand you the smallest one they can produce. If your file is comfortably under the ceiling and the form still refuses it, this is almost certainly what happened. Fix it by giving the encoder more to work with: a higher scan resolution, a greater pixel width, or a colour scan instead of black and white.
Two: it is a PNG wearing a .jpg name
Indian exam portals, and most visa portals, accept JPG and JPEG and nothing else. Renaming a PNG to end in .jpg does not convert it. The bytes inside still say PNG, the server reads the bytes, and the upload fails with the same unhelpful message.
Screenshots are PNG by default on every operating system, which is why "I screenshotted my signature" ends here so often. Anything that passes through the tool on this page comes out as a real JPEG, because that is the only format it writes.
Three: the pixel dimensions are wrong
Some forms check the width and height as well as the weight, and reject anything that is not the stated size. 200 × 230 for a banking photograph, 140 × 60 for a signature, 350 × 350 for UPSC. A file can sit perfectly inside the weight band and still be refused for being 180 × 210.
The three body pages carry these already: SSC, IBPS and UPSC. If your form is not one of those, take the numbers from its own instructions page and type them into the boxes above.
Four: the picture itself is the problem
If the upload succeeds and the application is rejected later, the file was fine and the photograph was not. The recurring reasons are a busy or dark background where a plain light one was asked for, a cap or dark glasses, a face too small in the frame, a photograph old enough to be visibly out of date, and a signature written in block capitals where running cursive was required.
Nothing on this page can repair any of that, and no tool anywhere can. It is worth checking before you spend an evening on file sizes.
Questions
+ The form says my file is invalid but gives no reason. Where do I start?
Check the minimum size first. If your file is well under the stated ceiling, it is probably under the floor as well, and that is the most common cause of this exact message. Then check that it is genuinely a JPEG and not a renamed PNG.
+ How do I make a file bigger without it looking worse?
Give the encoder more pixels. Increase the width, or scan the original again at a higher resolution, or scan in colour instead of black and white. The tool above then has enough detail to spend on reaching the floor.
+ Is a screenshot of my signature acceptable?
Only after it has been converted to a real JPEG and sized correctly, and only if the signature underneath is a proper ink signature on white paper. A screenshot is a PNG when it leaves your operating system, and most portals refuse PNG outright.
+ Can I fix the file on my phone?
Yes. This page works the same on Android and iOS, and the whole job runs on the phone itself, so there is nothing to upload and nothing to wait for.
+ Do you keep a copy of my photograph?
No. There is no server involved in the processing at all. Your file is read, resized and written back by your own browser, and it never crosses the network.