Compress an image to 20 KB
A 20 KB limit is the tightest you will usually meet. It appears on government and recruitment portals, signature fields, old web forms and some helpdesk uploads.
The target is already set to 20 KB. The tool tries the highest quality first and lowers it step by step until the file fits. It shrinks the pixel size only when quality alone cannot get under the limit. It aims slightly below 20 KB, counting 1 KB as 1,000 bytes, so the file also passes on systems that count 1,024 bytes.
What fits in 20 KB
As a JPG or WebP, a typical photo of about 250 by 250 to 400 by 400 pixels for a face photo, or a signature strip near 300 by 100 pixels fits in 20 KB. Screenshots, logos and scans of text behave differently: flat colors compress very well, and fine texture or noise compresses poorly. If the file cannot reach 20 KB at a reasonable size, the list tells you and shows the smallest result.
Tips for reaching 20 KB
- Crop to the exact shape before you compress. Every unused pixel costs bytes, and a plain light background compresses much better than a busy one.
- For a scanned signature or stamp, use PNG output with 16 or 32 colors, or JPG at low quality. Both are far smaller than a color scan.
- Compress from your original file. Compressing a copy that was already compressed loses more detail.
Other sizes
50 KB, 75 KB, 100 KB, 150 KB, 200 KB, 250 KB, 300 KB, 400 KB, 500 KB, 750 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB, 3 MB, 5 MB.
You can also compress JPG, PNG or WebP by format, or read the image compression guide.