How to Reduce Photo Size to 20 KB, 50 KB or 100 KB (Free, Online)

By Shani Dev Gupta · Updated 23 September 2026 · 4 min read

Online forms, job portals and scholarship sites often reject photos that are larger than a set limit. Phone cameras take photos of 2–5 MB, which is far too big. Here is how to bring a photo down to the size you need.

The quick way

1. Open Compress image.
2. Pick a ready preset such as Under 20 KB, Under 50 KB or Under 100 KB, or type your own number in Max size (KB).
3. If the form gives a pixel size too, set Resize → Exact size and enter the width and height.
4. Add your photos (you can add several at once) and tap Process images.
5. Download each file, or all of them as a ZIP.

How it works

File size depends on two things: the number of pixels and the JPG quality. The tool first resizes the image if you asked it to, then lowers the quality step by step until the file fits your limit. Because it stops at the highest quality that fits, the photo stays as sharp as possible.

Tips for the best result

• Resize the pixels first. A 4000 px photo squeezed into 20 KB looks blocky. The same photo resized to 400–600 px wide looks clean at 20 KB.
• Use JPG, not PNG, for photos. PNG files are much larger for the same picture.
• Crop extra background with the Image editor before compressing.
• If the form also sets a minimum size, fill in Min size (KB) so the file does not become too small.

Frequently asked questions