Compress an image to under 20 KB
For application forms with a tiny upload limit: a JPG under 20 KB, made on your device.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works offline after first visit
- Open source
- No watermark · limit is your device’s memory; phones hold less
Get a photo or signature under 20 KB for an online application form. It is free, needs no account and adds no watermark, and your files are not uploaded: everything runs in your browser on your device. The size limit is your device’s memory, and phones hold less; give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, and then it works offline.
Done
Open the network tab. Your files never appear in it.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
Twenty kilobytes is the limit that exam boards, recruitment portals and government application forms set for a scanned signature, and often for the photo too. A phone picture is a hundred times that, and the forms rarely explain how to get it down.
This page opens ready for it: pictures are first held to 600 pixels on the longer side, which is more than any form displays, and then each is saved as a JPG at the highest quality that stays under 20 KB. If the picture is still too big at the lowest quality, it is made smaller step by step until it fits. The result card shows the final size in pixels and bytes.
For a signature, crop it tightly first so the file carries ink rather than blank paper; for a photo, crop to head and shoulders. Both leave more of the 20 KB for detail. The file never leaves your device, which matters for identity documents.
How it works
- Drop the photo or signature scan.
- Leave the limit at 20 KB, or change it if the form says otherwise.
- Press Compress to 20 KB and upload the JPG to the form.
In your browser, not on a server
Resizing uses stepped downscaling on a canvas so text and edges stay sharp, and the browser encodes the result at the quality you choose. Everything happens in memory in your tab. Large batches are processed one image at a time so the page stays responsive on a phone.
Compared with upload-based tools: Image compressors that upload your photos limit you to a few files, a small size, or a watermark until you pay. This one has no counter to reset because there is no server to keep one.
Verify it yourself. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode and run the tool again. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
The form also wants exact pixels, like 140 by 60. Can I do both?
Yes. Switch Resize to Exact size, type the width and height, and keep the 20 KB limit. At a small size like that the JPG usually comes out well under 20 KB at high quality.
Why is the result 19.5 KB and not exactly 20?
The page counts 20 KB as 20,000 bytes, a little less than the 20,480 some sites mean, so the file passes whichever way the form counts. JPG sizes also move in steps as quality changes, so the last few hundred bytes are rarely filled.
My signature looks grey and blotchy at 20 KB.
Make it black and white first with the black and white photo tool’s pure black and white setting, then compress it here. Two-tone images take far fewer bytes, so the lines stay crisp.
Is the file uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server in this process. The page is a static file and the work is done by code running inside your browser tab. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use; then you can turn off Wi-Fi and it still works.
More image tools
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Other conversions
- PNG to JPG
- JPG to PNG
- WebP to PNG
- WebP to JPG
- PNG to WebP
- JPG to WebP
- AVIF to JPG
- AVIF to PNG
- SVG to PNG
- JXL to PNG
- Compress image to 50 KB
- Compress image to 100 KB
- Compress image to 1 MB
- Compress image to 2 MB
- Resize image to 3000×3000
- Resize image to 1920×1080
- Crop to circle
- Crop to square
- Image to pixel art with grid
- Picture to text
- Screenshot to text
- JPG to text
Guides
- How to reduce an image's file sizeTwo settings do almost all the work. Here are the numbers to use for email, forms, listings and websites.
- How to convert and edit files without uploading themBrowsers can do most file jobs themselves. What runs locally, why it is enough, and which tools to use.
- Is FreeConvert safe?FreeConvert is a legitimate service with a clear deletion policy. Whether it is safe for a particular file depends on whether that file should be uploaded anywhere.
- Is ezgif safe?Ezgif is a legitimate, popular GIF tool with a short deletion window. The file you are about to drop in decides whether uploading it is fine.
- Is Zamzar safe?Zamzar is one of the oldest online converters. Its storage window is longer than most, which is the detail worth knowing.