How to Compress an Image to 100KB, 50KB or 20KB
Upload form rejecting your photo? Here's how to get any image under 100KB, 50KB or 20KB on phone or PC, free, without making it blurry.
Job portals, exam registrations, visa applications and government sites often insist on photos "under 100KB" or "between 20KB and 50KB". A photo straight from a phone is usually 2-5MB, so it has to shrink by 95% or more. Here's how to do it without ending up with a blocky mess.
The quickest way
- Open the compressor for your target: 100KB, 50KB, 20KB, or any size you type.
- Add your photo. It works with iPhone HEIC photos too.
- FileStripe finds the highest quality that fits under the limit and shows the final size. Download it.
The photo never leaves your device, which matters when it's an ID photo or a scan of a document.
Why "just lower the quality" often fails
JPG quality and file size aren't linked in a simple way. Quality 50 can give 80KB for one photo and 400KB for another, depending on how much detail it has. That's why the tool searches for the right quality automatically instead of making you guess.
For very small targets like 20KB, quality alone isn't enough. A 4000-pixel-wide photo at 20KB would look like mosaic tiles. Shrinking the dimensions first keeps it sharp: a 600 × 800 pixel photo looks clean at 20-30KB.
Recommended dimensions for common targets
| Target | Good dimensions | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 20KB | 300-600 px wide | Signatures, small ID photos |
| 50KB | 600-900 px wide | Application photos |
| 100KB | 900-1200 px wide | Profile pictures, forms |
| 200KB | 1200-1600 px wide | Document scans, listings |
| 500KB-1MB | 1600-2400 px wide | Email, websites |
FileStripe reduces the dimensions automatically when the quality search alone can't reach the target, so you don't need to resize first.
What about "minimum size" rules?
Some forms say "between 10KB and 20KB". If your result is too small, set a higher target (for example 19KB) in the exact size tool. It aims for the largest file under your number.
On a phone
Open the compressor in Safari or Chrome, tap the upload box and choose your photo. When it's done, tap Download, or the share button to save it straight to Photos or Files.